Fable - Ask Nightmares or Memories?

[Sidereal Penumbra]

“Ah fuk it, just when things were getting good.”Sid swaggered, his golden-tinted hazels sweeping the troops around them. Words ringing a double meaning between his brothers and what just happened. He lowered the sword but didnt drop it. Even though his own blade was strapped to the middle of his back. Nestled between his wings.

His words and stance maybe looked like a self-assured bastard but his brother would see the tiniest nod of his chin in respect. He had a hole in his own shirt. And if their sparring allowed magic. Well, he had a different kind than his brothers. And he for sure hells didnt want to go up against those shadows.

Sid squared his massive shoulders. “Back in your lines. You’re all to do triple drills from here on out. Day and night. You got enough time for dissent means you ain’t working hard enough. Move out!” His voice rang with the authority of a general. There were some groans but those males gathered did as they were ordered.

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan let that palpable, pregnant silence linger in the air for a long moment as he so patiently waited for any more brave souls to step up. It was the silence of death and shadow, of a warning that they dared not test.

His lips curled at Sid's words, and the General needed no backup from him. He gave his brothers a stiff nod and turned back to Captain Misha who struggled to meet his dark gaze. "Get up." the Prince growled quietly, and the male did so, his head still bowed.

"My father no doubt wants your head served to him with his salad tonight, Misha." Lòrcan said with a wide grin, as though he'd just shared a hilarious story with a friend. The Captain didn't seem amused by it. "You must think yourself a clever man.." he chuckled, lifting his hand and watching the shadows dance across it. The Captain watched it too, and Lòrcan didn't need to be able to smell fear to know that the male had lost control of his bladder at the prospect of losing his head. The soldiers about them paused as they realised too.

The prince's nose wrinkled and his hand fell to his side. "But I'm a fairer fae than my father, and I'm going to assume that a lesson has been learned today." he smiled broadly again and clapped the male on the shoulder, his grip a little tighter than it had to be. "You are replaceable, Captain. It would be wise to remember that. You fight for us, or you die. That's not a gamble, it's a fucking certainty." he winked and turned his back on the Captain who crumbled like wet sand back onto his knees.

He knew that the sight alone would have many if not most of his soldiers question how worthy he was as a leader. He knew that he didn't need to cut the Captain's balls off for he'd done it to himself in the eyes of those who were supposed to follow him. They'd turn on him, whether tonight, tomorrow or in the weeks to come, the male was already dead and one more worthy of his title would step up and take it, and it would be a far more interesting game.

 

[Raphael]

Raphael folded his arms over his chest as each of his friends handled their duties.

Sid suited command. He had the ability to turn on the charm but he was also ruthless and what was most important was he knew when to use each side of that coin to get what he wanted. The younger recruits he was ordering into lines looked at him with a mix of fear but also... awe, even if they seemed to begrudge it. The inquisitor almost smiled. He could remember being their age, almost at the end of their training and eager to no longer be at the bottom of the pack.

Lòrcan was a different story. He liked to act lazy, as though he were more interested in bedding women than he was doing his duties, but the truth was that deny it or not he was his fathers son when he wanted to be. Fae could feel the power of an heir and it thrummed under the Prince's skin like a pulsing, living beast. The inquisitor shivered at the thought of how much more his power would grow in the coming centuries.

As Misha slunk off to lick his wounds and the kids got back to fighting he sauntered over to join the pair.

"Well... what should we do now? String a few more people up or have a well deserved beer?"

 

[Sidereal Penumbra]

Sid's stern expression didn't change as his golden-green eyes watched the males and few females of the troops fall into line and follow his orders. He watched as Captain Misha cowered and finally stood on trembling legs and scampered off, leaving the scent of urine behind. He knew it wouldn't be the end of that male's defiance. But like his brother, he knew the male had lost a lot of respect today.

Sid could finish the rest in his own time.

He looked to Raphael. He hated to see the quiet torture in his gaze. Something he could hide from the rest of the world but not him. Or Lorcan. Carefully, Sid smoothed over his own expression as he put down the sword and shield.

"My vote is always for drinks. But I say we fly somewhere else." He wouldn't be able to truly unwind around the prying eyes of the troops and their leaders. "Gods damnit Lorcan and stop eyeing up my healers." There was a smirk on his face as he called the prince out. "Plenty of females in other courts."

 

[Lorcán]

Lòrcan spared a moment to watch two males dragging the beheaded corpse from where the soldier had fallen. His jaw tightened.. "Such a fucking waste." he muttered, his hand running through his hair as he huffed in thought. Perhaps he should have done worse to Misha, this was his fault and he was only damned lucky that no more than one single soldier had come to his aid.

His hand dragged down his face as he turned to his brothers. "Drink. I'm done doing that old bastard's dirty work." he grumbled and patted both of his brother's on the shoulders. "Wherever you want, General. Lets just get the fuck out of here, eh?.." he arched a brow, his expression otherwise weary.

"And I was simply thanking her for healing me! Give me some credit..." he snorted. Though the girl was pretty... The dark, feathered wings formed of shadows once again, and with a beat he was already climbing into the air, awaiting Sid's lead.

 

[Raphael]

Relief flashed across his face when both agreed to getting out of this place though he wasn't really surprised. It wasn't just the Inquisitor who saw nightmares in every memory this place awoke. It had nearly killed all of them at some point. A second after the Prince spread his wings Raphael leapt into the sky after him. Even being off the ground helped. Each beat of their wings carried them further away from their childhood memories and allowed him to focus on what positives had come out of it.

Like his friendship with these two.

Even if they were idiots.

He rolled his eyes at their back and forth banter about women but couldn't help but smile as he drifted along a current.

"I'm surprised you haven't been married off yet," he snorted a laugh.

 

[Sidereal Penumbra]

He snorted when the prince asked for credit. Head shook but he didnt say anything else as he soared in the sky with his brothers. Putting that camp far behind him. A quick glance back at Raphael. A raise of dark brows.

He did wonder why Lorcan hadn’t been married off yet. The Erlking certainly wasn’t above a power play like that. Hells. He’d already done far worse.

He cleared his throat and pointedly did not look at Lorcan as he pulled in front and took the lead. “Going to Lookout Peak. That small bar in the spine just inside winter court. If you two hadn’t gotten so shit-faced you might even remember it.”

He’d been shit faced too but that wasn’t the point. The ground below them would shift as the hills began rising into tall peaks. The place was nearly on the border of fall and winter. But only those with wings could get to it. He supposed someone could climb but it would be nearly a deathwish.

 

[Lorcán]

"Don't say that too loudly.." he laughed under his breath at the talk of marriage. "He'd be too ashamed to marry me to anyone, I'd only embarrass him." he smirked. "I'm not exactly husband material..".. Still, it'd been a thought that'd crossed his mind more than once and he simply chose to put it aside. He'd gone this long without being paired up with someone, he doubted it'd be an issue now.

"Now enough or I'll be marrying you two off to one another." he mused, taking Sid's lead with a wide grin. At the General's remarks he gave Raph an indignant look.

"Frankly I'm shocked that you'd even suggest such a thing. Us? Shitfaced in public? How very dare you.." he laughed and looked over the hills and mountains in a moment of silence.. "Seriously though when was this?".....

 

[Raphael]

Raph painted the perfect look of feigned ignorance as if he had never even heard of this place let alone any story where he had got so drunk he hadn't been able to fly leaving it and had instead ripped a chunk of bark off the nearest tree and used it as a sledge down to the bottom of the mountain instead. How he hadn't broken his neck he still wasn't entirely sure. Brute force and ignorance most likely. He cast a deeply indignant look towards his friend at the suggestion of his own marriage however.

"I think," he said lightly in a tone befitting a scholar musing in the histories of the Age of Legends. "It will be your mothers family who marry you off if any," the Erlking had dodged marriage himself for the thousands of years he had held the crown. Lorcán's mother was the closest from what his network of spies said and even then that had been doubtful; the Dawn Court tended to view marriage as a death warrant. Even mates didn't wed.

"I hear the Summer Princess is still available," both eyebrows rose suggestively.

 

[Sidereal Penumbra]

“It was fifty years ago,” he deadpanned to his brother, ignoring the quip about marrying him to Raphael. Everyone knew Sid’s preferences.

The summer princess…

Sid choked and fell a few feet as he barked out laughter before he could straighten his wings. Raphael may be known as the more reserved or silent one in the trio but when he chose to speak and participate in banter he always had the best and boldest things to say. There was a time when he’d thought Lorcy boy would go for her. Until he realized how close of friends they were. Still…

“You sure you’re saying that for his sake or your own, Raph?” A flash of white teeth as his grin widened. A bold wink at his brother as he looked back over his shoulder at him. There it was. Nearly hidden. A pinprick of smoke from a fire. White roof to match the white, snowy mountains.

 

[Lorcán]

Lorcán rubbed at the back of his neck as the conversation still skipped around marriage.. "Luckily, my mother can't force me to do anything." he snorted. The female had no doubt forgotten he existed. At the comment on Ama however, Lorcán's gaze darkened. "Aye, she is, and she'll remain that way until someone worthy of her arrives. Until then..." he growled quietly, leaving the rest unsaid as he looked between the two males flying either side of him.

Fuck he needed a drink.

He tucked in his wings to dive toward the mountain as the lookout peak came into view. There was nothing graceful about the way he descended, it was fast and reckless, a complete nosedive that would see him smattered on the mountains if he didn't open his wings in time. At least it'd wake him up..

 

[Raphael]

Raphael's blank masked slipped in panic for just a moment at the mention of himself favouring the Summer Princess. Lorcán's barely veiled threat only made it worse and he grimaced as though a bad taste had coated his tongue. It was almost a relief when the Prince decided to throw himself into a suicidal decent. With a shrug to Sid, the Spymaster tucked his own wings in and followed suit.

The bar turned from a spec into an increasingly large hut built on the knife edge of a mountain outcrop. Say what you would about the Winter Fae but they did like to live dangerously. If his reports were anything to go by however this place had been built by a man who preferred certain unmortal company and the positioning was meant to strongly discourage those who couldn't survive making the journey from attempting to visit.

Unlike Lorcán he didn't have a death wish and pulled up smoothly to used one of the frigid air currents to make his way more gracefully to the front door.

 

[Sidereal Penumbra]

"Touchy, touchy," Sid tsked beneath his breath as the prince went on his rant about the princess of summer. But he agreed. She was a close friend of the trio. More than a friend. She was family. And he definitely agreed with Lorcan. But he knew she could damn well handle herself.

He pulled up like Raph, his booted-feet touching lightly on the snowy slick surface of that small ledge. Brushing off some snow from his jacket and hair he tugged open the rickety door. A wide-grin on his face. The outside looked like a shithole but the inside was cozy and well-kept. Fur rugs lined the floor and a roaring fire took up nearly one wall.

"Fendersmith! First round is on me," Sid boomed to the barkeep. The barkeep swore, swinging a towel over one shoulder. He looked part dragon. Scales lined one side of his face. His eyes golden. Claws on his hands and webbed wings that were nearly like Sid's and Raph's.

"I swear to the nine gods if you lot start a fight in here again you'll be banned for the next century."

 

[Lorcán]

Lorcán skidded along the snow, his wings catching him and keeping him upright until he came to a halt a step in front of the door. The dark, raven wings ruffled and dissipated into smoky shadow and he straightened his collar and smoothed his sleeves with a glance to his brothers before stepping inside.

He offered a bright grin to the barkeep, lifting a hand in greeting but it balled into a fist at the threat. Ah, now he remembered.

"No trouble, just drinks." he assured, noting a few people around the cosy tavern staring at them. The table by the hearth in the corner was vacant, and so Lorcán flopped unceremoniously into a comfortable armchair. "Haven't had a drink in hours.." he smirked and ran a hand through his dishevelled hair.

 

[Raphael]

Raphael looked every bit the angel as he slid past the barkeep. Bards would have sung of that look of innocence, artists painted it, poets wept over it. Truly, it was a work of art. He slid into one of the booths designed for those with wings and settled back as though he were about to attend a church service. In a way they were; bars were as holy to the trio as shrines were to others. Lorcán's admission, however, brought a frown to his features. Albeit briefly.

"So, do you think that little stunt will have calmed the rebellion down a little?" he directed the question mostly to Sid; they were his soldiers after all. Their drinks arrived and he raised his to his lips gladly. He didn't often get the chance to drink in his line of work and so it made him value these moments of pause even more. By his calculations though he was due one of his week long breaks and that would be truly wonderful.