Private Tales Read between the lines

[Zana]

"I suppose killing them would create a bit too much attention," Zana sighed and leant against one of the trees, her arms folded over her bump. Unlike her husband there were parts of the Dreadlord upbringing she hadn't quite shaken, including when it came to resulting to killing if it made her life easier. She tapped her fingers against her arm in thought.

"Intelligence would be useful. Even if they don't know who Nassau and Adelaide are, they're bound to know if there is a dragon lying around somewhere," they were a little harder to hide than a couple of Archons. Her eyes flickered in the direction of the pyramid the tip of which could just be seen above the treetops. "Could you ghost one of them here?" she didn't particularly like the idea of him going out there solo but his skills were better suited to the task.

 

[Talus]

Talus glanced over his shoulder. "Probably."

His magic worked quickly, phase-walking was faster in some ways than even the speediest Dreadlords. On the other side Talus was not bound by the laws of physics, nor the limitations of the human body. He had never once taken someone unwillingly to the other side, but it wasn't impossible.

He didn't need someone to want to go to take them.

"But, once I take them, that'll be that." The former Dreadlord said, shrugging his shoulders. If that was the play they wanted to make, then he would gladly make it. Information was worth it, but there was no telling if these creatures would even know anything. "You sure?"

Talus asked, already beginning to strip himself of his pack and other superfluous gear. "I'll take someone who isn't going to be missed, or try."

He said, rolling his shoulders, already knowing the answer Zana was likely to give.

 

[Zana]

"It's the best idea we have," Zana sighed and pushed off from the tree. It took three steps to reach him. She brushed her knuckles gently across his cheek and then slid her fingers into the silken tresses of his hair. "Just... be careful," it was a quiet plea. No matter what either of them had faced and overcome in the past, they had lived too long in Vel Anir not to make the mistake of taking it for granted they would always meet such a lucky fate.

With a last kiss she stepped back, releasing him.

"I'll wait right here."

 

[Talus]

Talus nodded his head, taking a deep breath.

At home there was not truly much call for the use of his magic, in fact he tried to not use it more often than not. Though their gifts were a privilege, and the twins used their magic more naturally than he ever could, it was important to remember to live without it as well. They still practiced of course, training was essential, but it had been a while since Talus simply let his magic…go.

Without another word, the world around him suddenly snapped into a field of ethereal blue. His ghostly form shifted in the world for a moment, translucent and glancing at Zana before suddenly disappearing in a blur of motion. The slight wispy trail left behind him quickly disappearing into the expanse of the jungle.

It took him only a few seconds to retread their steps and reach the encampment.

What took him longer was finding someone to take.

His eyes quickly flew over those milling and moving about around the pyramid, eventually finding one lone orc wandering back towards camp. Likely just having relieved himself. Talus bucked to the left, and within the span of half a breath grabbed the man and swept him into the ether. Seizing him and dragging him back to the clearing Zana was standing him.

Reality snapping into place as Talus threw the orc-like creature to the ground. The man reeling as a wave of nausea and confusion overcame him. His stomach contents spilling onto the floor. ”Didn’t have time to warn him.”

 

[Zana]

Zana managed to step back just before the orc covered her new boots in vomit. She scrunched her nose up and covered her mouth as her own stomach heaved. Usually she was not so squeamish but pregnancy made a lot of smells offensive. Orc vomit apparently was one of them. She stalked a distance away where the air was a little clearer and waved a hand in front of her face in an effort to unclog the smell from her nostrils.

"Lovely. Ah, ah ah," the orc made a disorientated run for it but a wave of Zana's hand and her magic locked his legs firmly in place. "We have no intentions of hurting you, but... We have a few questions we'd like to ask you first."

 

[Talus]

The orc-like man froze, his legs comically splayed out in a sprint. His hands shaking and immediately snapping to his legs. Fingers wrapping around his thighs as he tried to force them to move, Talus nearly cursing into a laugh as he watched him almost topple over from the effort.

”Take it easy.” The former Dreadlord said, a hand held up in what he hoped was a common sign of peace. ”We just want to ta-”

As he took another step forward, the man's eyes snapped to Talus, a jumble of words padding from his lips as he interrupted the Dreadlord. “Lisan et truild de kof!”

His words were a shout, though they would never reach beyond small jungle clearing. The thickets of trees and vines forming an almost impenetrable sound. Talus glanced over at Zana for a brief moment, his brow furrowing as he recognized pieces of their captives spoken language.

”I think that's…” Confusion touched his features. ”I think that's old Allirian.”

Talus said with a frown, having heard it only once. ”Before the common tongue took over.”

What the hell was this guy doing speaking that?

 

[Zana]

"I... think you're right," Zana's frown deepened. Old Anirian she might have understood; Nassau had had a deep interest in Old Alliria and the first Dreadlords, but Allirian? House Luana had taught her many things for the various diplomatic missions she would be sent on but her Old Allirian was beyond rusty. "I've only ever heard it spoken once, by an old ship merchant the Luana's used to use to ferry rare artefacts across from Sheketh," the man had been so old there had been several rumours he had sold is very soul to the sea to sail it for eternity. She'd once asked Ashur if it was true and he had merely smiled at her.

"What..." Zana hesitated, searching her memory for the words. "Wetin...yu de du ya?"

 

[Talus]

"At lu del win!" The man replied almost instantly in a panic, his words clearly denoting the fact that he did not wish to be here. Fear playing across his features as he looked from Talus to Zana in sheer and utter terror. Almost as if expecting to die.

And yet, even with the language barrier Talus could tell...he did not fear them.

"Sweetheart..." The former Dreadlord said softly. "I don't think he's...scared of us."

Talus said softly, as he raised both of his hands and took a step towards the man. Slowly squatting down and reaching the floor. His hand brushing some of the leaves and foliage away to clear a patch of dirt. Quickly he scribbled within the earth, to simple figures, holding hands. As if in friendship.

The orc-like being looked down at it, and then at the two Dreadlords. "Atellra?"

He asked slowly; friends.

 

[Zana]

Zana grimaced when she received a stream of shouted gibberish back. Had she congregated the wrong word perhaps? Said something she hadn't meant? She raised her hands up to show she held no weapons when the orc began to show true terror.

"Hey, it's okay, look--" she glanced across to Talus when he interjected and stepped forward. The Archon lowered her hands and watched with a small frown as her husband quickly sketched in the ground. Her lips twitched as the image brought to mind one the twins had done not two weeks ago.

"Yes! Atellra," Zana nodded encouragingly at the word she recognised. "Rose, Jacob," she gestured between them, the lie rolling off her tongue easily. If the orc did repeat anything she had no intentions of him leading their masters back to them, or their family. Grabbing her own stick she sketched the pyramid with a question mark beside it.

"What... is this? What are you doing here?"

 

[Talus]

"Wre chropa wud futr toil." The Orc-like creature seemed to slowly put together Zana's words, replying to her half in his own tongue, and half in a quick drawing on the floor besides where Talus had made his offer of friendship.

The language barrier slowly began to break down as the two Dreadlords committed to a back and forth with the creature.

It seemed through their own base of knowledge within Old Allirian and the help of drawings, they were able to communicate well enough with the strange creature. Before long it became obvious that despite their happy disposition, these creatures were not toiling under the weight of their own will, but instead had what they referred to as a 'King' reigning over them.

"Nassau?" Talus asked Zana with a slight frown, glancing at his beloved with no small amount of concern as he observed the latest drawing offered by their new ally. "Where you...born here?"

He asked the man, slowly drawing a figure of a small child and then an island.

The orc quickly nodded his head in affirmation, but then drew chains around the very figure that Talus himself had drawn. Pointing insistently at the artistry, and then reaching up to fold two hands around his own throat. As if signalling a threat.

Glancing at Zana again, Talus frowned. "He enslaved them."

He said softly.

 

[Zana]

Zana tried not to look as concerned as she felt.

"Have you seen a dragon?" she asked the orc next, reaching down to draw an impression of the beast in the sand. The orc nodded vigorously and, as he had with Talus' drawing, drew chains around it causing her heart to sink. At least it appeared as though the dragon were not dead, though that didn't mean it was not in a similar state to the one they had encountered before. Mind racing, she began to pace back and forth in an effort to soothe them.

"Azhrak is not going to leave if he thinks he can save her," female dragons were rare than their male counterparts and from the agitated way the monstrous dragon acted, Zana suspected she meant more to him than a simple den-mate.

 

[Talus]

"No." Talus agreed. "He will not."

There was of course...always not telling the dragon. Perhaps slightly underhanded, but if the great beast knew that his kin was still alive he might go rampaging across the whole of the isle. There was no telling what chaos would break out, and that wasn't even to mention that these orc-like creatures hardly seemed at fault for their current state.

Talus couldn't let them be harmed. "We need to get a better look at things."

The Former Dreadlord suggested.

"If we go back now we still don't have much information anyway." There was a dragon, but where were the two Archons? What other forces did they have? Would the orcs fight alongside them or against them? Too many questions. "We get inside, I think."

As much as he hated saying it, there wasn't a way to avoid any danger. Sooner or later both of them would have to venture into the lions den. At least they could keep doing it together.

 

[Zana]

Zana folded her arms over her chest and pressed her lips into a thin line. From the look on her face she seemed more inclined to let the dragon rampage across the jungle. If they had been sure there was only one Archon she certainly would have advocated for it, but two... Dragons were strong but so were Archons. In the end she blew out a breath and let her arms fall to her sides in resignation.

"Agreed," though she was hardly happy about it. She wanted to be heading back to the twins, not delving deeper into this mess. She turned her cold green eyes back to the orc who instinctively flinched back; prey sensing the attention of a predator. "We can't just let him go though. Someone might have noticed he's gone and if he comes back question him, what's to stop him from talking to them as he did to us?"

 

[Talus]

Talus gazed at the orc-like creature. "Sometimes I wish I never developed morality."

The former Dreadlord commented with a slight frown.

"Their way was easier a lot of the time." It was a conversation the two of them had had many times over the years. How the need to do good, the path they had chosen inevitably ended up being twice as hard as doing the wrong thing. A lesson both of them had learned, and come to hate in part. "Alright."

He said, taking a deep breath and moving towards the Orc. He raised his hands, and then once again began to draw in the dirt. Doing his best to communicate to the creature that it would be best for it to stay here. That they would help it's fellow...creatures, that it just had to stay.

After more emphatic signalling, Talus looked at the Orc expectantly. "Understand?"

Talus asked, pausing for a second until the man finally tipped his head in a nod.

"I think he's got it." The Dreadlord said, looking over his shoulder at Zana. "We just have to be quick."