Private Tales Pride

[Arwyl Minras]

Riley

Arwyl took three quick steps to the side, but his balance failed him. He landed heavily in the thick grass.

"Damnit," he hissed, clutching his side.

They hadn't won, but they hadn't lost either. His band had been ambushed on the road by a group of fighters led by a lower level dreadlord. They were either after Riley or the fortune from the wagons. It didn't matter now. They had survived.

Kaius would not if they didn't get help. To make it worse, he had the human to help. Just the two of them, back tracking down the road.

"Just a moment," he said quietly to Riley. He had caught a glancing blow from a mace, but without armor it had hurt.

It was possibly going to hurt more to ask the stuck up princess for her help again. His pride was a fragile thing. It isn't matter. Arwyl would go to far greater lengths to look after Kaius than the old man knew.

 

[Riley]

Riley was...exhausted. She had a slight limp. Each step a painful reminder of how they'd failed Kaius. How she'd failed him. Now he was barely hanging on - by the teeth of his stubbornness she was sure. The arrow that had hit him was poison tipped.

Her healing runes hadn't done anything to help. Perhaps slowed the spread a bit but not stopped it.

Shitgibbons.

Heart thundered in her chest as they walked. Did he hear it as Kaius said he could? She with the one elf she knew she could never prove herself enough to. One she'd just about given up trying to. One she'd thought was the most stuck-up elf she'd ever met...until the Princess.

What was with these royals?

"Arwyl," she ground out as she spun around. Even with her limp she was walking faster. Pushing them faster. "Can you...just...," she limped toward him and took a knee in the grass, catching her own breath. "Let me try the healing rune on you?"

Hazels bore into him silently communicating that if he refused, he'd just slow them down. If Kaus survived this, she knew he'd be pissed if he knew Arwyl had come with her. Instead of someone else. But there'd been no talking the elf out of coming. And Riley honestly didn't know if the princess would've listened to another elf in their band. She certainly wouldn't have listened to Riley alone.

And this.

This was too important.

Kaius was too important.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"I don't need magic," he said firmly.

I don't need your magic, he meant.

"Magic has a cost. I just need a moment. Get air back into my lungs. Get the world to just stay fucking still again," he hissed.

Arwyl was far more creative swearing in elvish, but her language seemed to be quite simple. He supposed it could be effective at times.

With a groan he managed to sit back upright. The world span for a little longer. Then he was at least able to tell the different between up and down.

"I would like a hand up though."

 

[Riley]

Her own fingers dug into her thigh as she huffed at the elf prince.

"Yeah a cost to my energy that I'm willing to give you if you weren't being such a stubborn arse," the young woman muttered, eyes flashing with impatience and a flint of anger. She stood, not pressing him further. Probably not the best way to address royalty. At times she wondered why he had ever offered her a place in his band? It was clear what he thought of her. Nearly just like the princess.

Just a lowly human.

She stood, keeping her face void of wincing at the weight to her ankle and lowered her arm, fingers extending to grip his own hand as she helped him up. She sighed. "We won't reach her kingdom even if we push it. We'll have to stop and camp. Even if it's only for a few hours."

They wouldn't be any good to Kaius if they pushed themselves so hard that neither of them made it.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

He knew she was right. He didn't want her to be right. Kaius was a tough old man, with magic to bolster himself. Whatever poison had laced that arrow it was slowly going to kill him. That was what he told himself, anyway. Arwyl wouldn't entertain the idea it would work quickly.

"You say that after helping me to my feet. I had found a perfectly comfortable ditch," he protested. Arwyl sighed and looked around.

Arwyl might have continued to tease her, but she was one of them now. That was whether she wanted to admit it or not. Kaius wanted him to build another kingdom and instead he'd built a place for lost and broken things.

"We should find a clearing off the path."

 

[Riley]

The smallest twitch of a smile at his words.

So small, he may have questioned whether he saw it at all.

Her hand was rough and calloused. Dirt-smeared and guilty of so many crimes. But she held his until she was sure he was steady on his feet, that he wouldn't stumble again.

A nod and she turned, stepping away. Flecked autumn gaze scanned the area they were in. A treeline a few yards away. She pointed. "Might find something in there?" Setting her jaw, she began forward. Looking to Arwyl, she spoke.

"We'll save him, Arwyl." The first time she'd used his name in a long time without that familiar bite in her tone.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

She always seemed to look forwards. Riley might have had a vocabulary of about twelve words in length, but she had a stubborn streak a mile wide. She kept moving forwards, trying to put the past behind her. Some distance behind her.

At least, that was his perception. Arwyl had to admit that he hadn't paid her the greatest amount of attention. He hadn't even acknowledged that she was responsible for them escaping the town before it was overrun. In his defence, it wasn't through any deliberate action on her part that she had gone through that wall.

He would have used a shard of spirit glass to carve through the bushes, but he was too tired. He had to slink through the branches instead. He found a patch of dry ground that looked as if it would do and came to a halt.

"No fire," he said. "Could be more scouts around."

 

[Riley]

He was right.

The cold had always affected her since she'd survived that winter in the exposed, hard, ground of that execution courtyard at the Academy. They hadn't even had time to snatch traveling supplies like bedrolls and a pack. She only had her weapons. And there was no barn tonight to bury herself in the hay.

But it wasn't winter yet and while the nights wouldn't be warm like summer, she'd manage.

For Kaius, she'd manage anything. And she would never tell him that. Couldn't.

Clearing the ground a bit from where she sat, she curled her knees into her chest and sighed, arms encircling around them. But her head swiveled. She checked to make sure the path they'd just come through wasn't completely obvious. She checked for vantage points. Checked to see if they were in any game trails from the larger animals of the wood.

Until finally, her eyes returned to the prince.

"I'll take the first watch," she said quietly, one hand dropping to massage at her ankle, hiding any wince. "If scouts come, if there's any trouble at all," she hesitated, not thinking there was any reason to say it but said it anyway.

"You run. Get to her lands."

 

[Arwyl Minras]

It made sense and he was too tired to argue. He doubted the elves would even offer the help if she was the one to stumble through their woods looking for it. Even if it was him, that captain of Sylmara's might decide to turn him away.

His injuries weren't going to heal quickly. They weren't going to slow him down too much if he got some rest in. Arwyl noted the positions of the two moons. To the sound of night owls, he let himself fall into a shallow rest. It wouldn't take much to wake him.

Within a few hours he quietly told Riley to go to sleep. His hood had been pulled up to shield him from the chill air, but it also hid his red hair from the moonlight. Lessat was carrying her hoop towards the horizon and soon they would be in near total darkness.

The ground was covered in dew, catching the rays of moonlight. One advantage to taking the first shift: a dry bed.

 

[Riley]

She'd almost nodded off. Multiple times. Only the press of stubborn fists into her eyes had kept her awake. And she was relieved when Arwyl woke. She gave him a small nod in the moonlight, probably looking as ragged as she felt.

With her back to a large tree, she spread across the grass, curling tightly into herself. Hands stuck into her armpits, trying to keep her fingers warm. Eyes closed. It didn't matter that she was cold. Damp. She was...exhausted. Physically and with worry.

Body shivered in her sleep but it didn't wake her.

And perhaps Arwyl would notice that the air just around her body would crackle and thicken with magic. Then disappear. Then pop. Then disappear.

It was her invisible shield turning on and off. On and off. It happened occasionally. Usually when she was having nightmares.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl observed this for a few minutes. Why was she even disturbing magic as she slept? It spoke of a lack of control. The last thing he wanted to do was prod her and get struck with all that pent up magic. He was worried it was building to such a degree that anyone with a bit of sense might have been able to pick it up.

He stepped to the far side of the clearing and picked up a small stone. It was round, flat and smooth. The kind you could skip across the water.

Arwyl send it skimming across the ground to strike the sole of her boot.

 

[Riley]

Up down.

Up down.

Up.

Ping.

The small stone went flying wildly back toward the sender as it hit the edge of her shield. Riley muttered and turned over in her sleep. The shield fell.

She muttered a sleepy complaint, "Riz, save some bread for the rest of us."

 

[Arwyl Minras]

With her shield down the next stoke struck her square in the rump. Arwyl thought it made quite a satisfying sound.

"Oi, your magic is doing something weird!" he hissed, keeping well out of arm's reach.

 

[Riley]

Eyes snapped open as the redheaded royal get his lucky shot in.

"Ow," she growled and jolted up and awake, fingers curled into fists. Chest heaving. Wild eyes looking for the fight. "What the actual fuk?" One of her curled fingers unfisted and rubbed at the sore spot on her bum.

Narrowed hazels shifted to the prince in a silent question of well?!

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Your magic...is doing some weird shit," he repeated slowly, as if addressing a half wit.

"Can you make it stop? I don't think there is another dreadlord out there, but if there is I'd rather not meet them in the dead of night with one of us out cold, yeah?"

 

[Riley]

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't use the same tone you used on Riz when you spoke to me," she sniffed. Arms crossed. Hair bristled on the back of her neck as her wildcat eyes surveyed the prince quietly from his distance of rock throwing. It was hard to tell if the twitch at the corner of her mouth was a smile or a scowl as she noted his healthy distance.

Slowly, arms uncrossed and a hand rubbed at the back of her neck.

Autumn-hazel eyes flicked downward for a moment.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I had to train myself to throw up a shield while I slept...to survive at the Academy and sometimes...it's a hard habit to break," she breathed. Fingers went down to rub at her ankle. Well, she was up now.

"Do you want to press onward?" Had he gotten enough rest?

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"You had to throw up a shield to avoid being killed in the night?" he asked rhetorically, shaking his head. They sounded worse than the dark elves who hid in their shadows and spend their energy clambering over each other to be queen of the shadows.

"I don't just talk to Riznak like that," he said, tilting his head to one side. "Everyone gets that tone and now you're one of us."

"And we can get moving again if you feel ready," Arwyl said. He dropped another stone he'd already prepared to throw.

He managed to look guilty about that, if nothing else.

 

[Riley]

It was different when it came from his mouth.

And now you're one of us.

She blinked. Her eyes didn't lift from her ankle. She was worried what she'd find in his face. Perhaps insincerity. Or worse, like he was trying to placate her. Then again, she'd only ever seen him do that with one other. Once.

The princess.

"I think I twisted my ankle," she finally admitted quietly. Back at the battle. Riley was tough. She could push through the pain but she didn't want it to slow them down. After the other day's battle and the shielding in her sleep, she didn't know if she had enough of her own magic to heal it.

"I need," eyes lifted finally. "I don't think I have enough magic to heal it right now." It was hard for Riley to ask for help. Let alone from Arywl. Or anyone. When that same thing got one killed at the Academy.

"Can you help me find something to bind it or a splint?" Perhaps he knew some kind of nature magic, even if that was a stereotype. Riley swallowed down her pride and waited for an answer.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl frowned. The adrenaline must have pushed her on because he had barely noticed the lump. Usually he was observant enough to notice such things.

"Hmm," he went, looking around. There wasn't much to hand and the ankle was a difficult joint to stabilise.

He opened and closed his hand, a shard forming out of thin air. Infinitely sharp, the spirit glass made easy work of peeling some soft bark from the nearest tree.

"Take off your boot, tear of some of your coat."

 

[Riley]

Riley eyed that spirit glass as it formed easily in his hand. If it made her nervous, it didn't show. Fingers tucked dark hair behind her curved ears as she nodded once. Tugging off the boot, she grimaced, then rolled down her woolen sock so she could get a better look at the swollen and bruised flesh beneath.

Going for the base of her coat, she tugged a strip of the fabric free. Then another and set them on the ground next to her. Fingers rubbed together as she waited for Arwyl to come over.

Fuk it was cold.

She hated how much it got to her since that day she'd refused those executions. Left to die in the courtyard. They'd wanted her to freeze in that ground.

Foosty gobshytes.

She'd be glad when they could get moving again, get that blood pumping through her veins. Get closer to what Kaius needed. Heart twisted in her chest.

Before her thoughts could drag her down a darker path, she opened her mouth for distraction.

"Was Riz always part of your court...or, how did he end up with your band?"

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl laughed softly. It was a quiet, melodic sound. He dropped to his knees with several strips of pliable bark and a few solid lengths of wood. He started by sliding a length of bark down each side of her ankle and foot.

"We formed when our city fell. I was just a child. Kaius and a fee loyal men led as many out of the siege as they could. There were no orcs with us then. Most of the band are those who escaped. Some joined along the way. This is going to hurt a little."

Arwyl wrapped some coat fabric around the joint and then bound the solid wood to the outside of her leg.

 

[Riley]

In a way that laugh of his was more unnerving than the spirit glass he wielded. Riley didn't think she'd ever heard him laugh like that. Bitterly? Sarcastically? Sure. But not like that.

Her fingers fell into place automatically as he worked, to take over to hold the bark in place as he worked that strip of her jacket around it. Fingers pressed into her skin as he tied it tight. Teeth gnawed down on the inside of her cheek as that sharp throbbing traveled up the length of her bones.

Their stories were similar in a way. Both children having lost their family. Lost their homes. At least Arwyl had Kaius.

"It's fine," she said quietly. "Tie it as tightly as you can." She could handle this pain. She'd been used to far worse. When Arwyl said he'd been just a child, she wondered how long ago that had been. He looked barely older than her now but she knew he was likely at least four...six times her age.

"How...," mouth wobbled not wanting to be rude but not knowing how to tactically ask her next question. She wanted to know how long they'd been fighting against Vel Anir. Kaius had hinted to it once but never really told her. "Erm, how old are you now?"

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Oh I'm barely an adult by our standards. I'm just thirty seven," he explained.

"Too tight and you won't feel your foot," he said. The cloth was between her and the bark. The bark added some strength to the joint and was between the cloth and the solid piece of wood.

"Don't try dancing on it, but that should hold."

 

[Riley]

Lips pursed tightly closed.

Was he using humor to distract? Baiting her to distract her? She picked up on the quips between himself and Kaius. They jested and barked at each other but she saw the tenderness beneath. She'd seen glimpses of it between Arwyl and his men as well. The group she now belonged to.

"Thanks," she huffed and gingerly tugged back on her boot.

She stood slowly, testing it out. Tight. Stable. Much better.

"I would've betted on you saying you were at least a hundred." Thirty-seven?! She knew that was young in elven standards. They were immortal...near immortal. "I mean, not that you look it," she stammered. Hand rubbed at the back of her neck, head tipping back to look up at the sky, finding the stars to get her bearings.

"Let's go," she lowered her hand and leveled her gaze, setting off into the dark woods. "Why did you...you and Kaius follow me when we first met?"

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Oh it's fine. I dance naked in the spiritual woods of my people once a month under the new moon to maintain my youthful looks. Kaius doesn't any more, which is why he looks around four hundred," Arwyl replied.

The deadpan tone gave almost nothing away. The young elf did, however, have to turn his head away so she didn't see his expression.

Elves could live very long lives. The truth was that few saw past two centuries. There was disease and all manner of beast in the wild. There were also humans.

Even if you had infinite coin tosses, it would always come up tails eventually.

"I distinctly recall that we simply happened to be fleeing in the same direction."