Private Tales Read between the lines

[Talus]

Her lack of modesty did not bother Talus one bit of course. The Academy was not separated by gender, and thus such sights were more than common.

What did interested him though was the House itself. The Home was...well much nicer than the one talus himself had. That fact didn't really bother him, he enjoyed the little cabin that the Guard had given him outside of Vel Anir.

It was a study in the dichotomy that he found so amusing.

This woman served House Luana, one of the most powerful and rich families in all of Vel Anir. Their wealth purchased this, and he couldn't help but wonder if they had purchased a piece of the woman's soul as well.

As he looked around Talus tried his best to ignore the growling dog, deciding that it would probably for the best not to interact with the thing. Animals had a habit of not liking him, something about his abilities making them naturally weary. He wasn't sure if that was true of this one, or if it was just defensive of it's Mistress.

After a few moments talus followed Zana to the couch, though he did not sit himself down.

 

[Zana]

Zana was dead to the world for a couple of hours which was more than she usually got before another vision interrupted her fitful rest. This time she had been greeted with nothing but the soft and peaceful embrace of darkness. She fell into it with open arms and wrapped herself up in it. Talus could have robbed her for all she cared in that moment - it was one of the most restful sleeps she had ever had. The only reason she ended up waking at all when she did was Greys wet nose pressing against her cheek and then his rough tongue. Her nose scrunched up and she attempted to push him away but he barked and then put his paws upon her face and barked again.

"Ok... ok!" she shoved the animal onto the floor and groaned. She had almost completely forgotten about Talus until she opened her eyes and saw him sat opposite her. Zana flinched. Grey ran from her to him and back again with a whine. Clearly, he had gotten over his fear of Talus pretty quickly. "Have you just been watching me sleep?" her pale green eyes narrowed slightly as she sat up slowly. Her head felt like it was wrapped in cotton wool. She pushed herself to her feet, swayed, then walked towards the back door and opened it into a small yard. Grey zoomed past her out into the now drizzly rain and she stood in the doorway waiting, her eyes never leaving the other Dreadlord.

"Talus. That's your name isn't it?"

 

[Talus]

"I read one of your books." He lifted a tome from his lap, the novel was titled 'The Sailor and the Princess'. He waved it for a second, and then placed it down onto a nearby end table.

He had also surmised that her name was Zana. They had been years apart in the Academy, buy close enough that he remembered seeing her every now and again. Her magic had been a mystery to him then, but he supposed that he knew now. Specifically, more than many others according to her.

"It is." He confirmed. "I'm the one that betrayed tradition and pledged the Guard."

A thing utterly unheard of. Dreadlords sometimes pledged themselves to the Crown, sometimes to a Minor House, buy never before the Guard. It had sent waves, and he'd nearly been killed for it more than once now. The Great Houses did not like it when someone bucked tradition.

Not that he hadn't known that beforehand. "I couldn't leave you, we have to care for our fellow Dreadlords after all."

There was a small amount of sarcasm in his tone.

 

[Zana]

Seeing him sitting there in her comfortable armchair, waving one of her romance novels around and talking about bedside manners and caring pushed her over the edge. For a moment all she could do was stare at him and then she began to laugh. It was a surprisingly musical sound and it carried on for a good few moments. Slowly it subsided and she pulled the blanket a bit tighter around herself more to keep the chill of the wind off her than anything concerning modesty. She turned her face away from him after he had laughed and looked out to the garden waiting for Grey's return which he did a few minutes later.

Zana shut the door and pulled a towel from a hook by the door and dropped it over the puppy then crouched to dry him off. Her hair slid forward over her bare shoulder and the wolf pup nipped at the strands playfully whilst wriggling impatiently to be let free. Content he wasn't going to traipse mud over her floor she let him go where he grabbed up his ball and ran straight over to Talus to dump it in his lap with a bark.

"Traitor," Zana narrowed her eyes at the wolf but a smile pulled at her lips. She raised her pale green eyes to Talus instead. "Would you like some tea?" she was already moving to the kitchen so clearly intended to make herself one and was offering only out of courtesy.

 

[Talus]

"Sure." Talus answered as he picked up the ball and tossed it into the air a few times before gently chucking it in the small room.

A part of him wondered still if the woman would try to poison him, but he realized that they were probably far past that at this point. Neither of them wanted to kill the other, at least not yet, and Talus intended to get to the bottom of this mystery.

If Luana was Splicing souls...that would be a problem.

The Guard knew that certain Houses had abilities that they tried to hide, but there was no real information on what those abilities were. This concerned him more than he could put into words, and as he waited for Zana to return he wondered if she even knew the truth of what was going on inside of her.

 

[Zana]

Zana worked quietly in the kitchen boiling the water and leaves together over the stove and adding a few different choice spices such as cinnamon. Grey was having a wail of a time rushing round the room after the ball and returning it to the man to have it thrown again and again. It was only when Zana returned, the blanket transformed into a makeshift sarong, that the wolf pup let him be and padded over to his mistress. She set the tray down on the coffee table between them which contained two cups of steaming tea, cream, sugar, and a small plate with muffins on. She added a dash of cream to her own tea then sat back and cradled it in her hands. Grey jumped up to lay out beside her with his head upon her lap.

"Thank you," her voice was soft and tentative as she spoke. She had never been good at knowing how to be around other Dreadlords. "For helping me, and staying. That was kind," she blew on her tea and then took a sip and then breathed out a deep sigh of relief. "I suppose you have had enough time whilst reading my romance novels to come up with a list of questions, or did the story of a love separated by the sea capture your attention so?"

 

[Talus]

"I do like the main Lucius character. He seems a fine lad." Of course, the truth was that Talus could barely read.

The book had been something that occupied him, but even at the Academy after countless beatings Talus had never had an easy time with letters. Even when he concentrated they always seemed to jump around, and parsing even simple text could be difficult.

Not that he would ever admit to such.

Talus did not immediately go for the tea, instead he leaned forwar din the chair. "Just one to start with."

A frown.

"Did you do it. Or did they?" It was obvious what he was referring to.

 

[Zana]

"Neither," Zana replied calmly and met his gaze over the rim of her cup as she took another tentative sip. It was cooling now and soon would be easy to drink without fear of scalding her mouth. Her eyelashes swept down and cast long shadows over her high cheekbones as she focused on the beverage and not on his face. She realised quite suddenly that this was the first time she had spoken to anyone about what she had done that night. How she had offered a mans life up for her own benefit but also for the benefit of the children at the academy. That had been the deal; Kol would not seek out their young if she did this for him instead. Her hands tightened on the cup a little. Such a confession might make her seem weak to another Dreadlord.

But he had chosen the Guards... he had chosen humanity.

"There was... a man," Zana took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He killed one of my men on a mission and took his place..." she paused. Why was she even telling him this? Perhaps so he would understand. Perhaps, it was for her own sanity. He knew about her visions and to her that was far more terrifying. "He had learnt about the children, at the academy," her eyes raised to his and she held his gaze steadily so he could see the truth of her next words. "I offered myself and another in their place, for the promise he and his people would leave them alone. It seemed..." she tried to find the words that might be able to explain what was so disturbing about the man that had stayed her sword in the first place. "It seemed the best option considering I did not know if there were others of his kind with him, and his powers were... an uncertainty."

 

[Talus]

In a strange way, Talus felt relieved.

It seemed that House Luana had not found a way to manipulate and graft the Soul. He was rather glad for that, though more than a little concerned about this man that Zana spoke of. Who was he? What did he want? His lips thinned.

He was entirely sure that she was not telling the whole truth, but at least part of it was there. If what she said was more honest than not...then she had saved the children at the Academy. It was more than most in her position would have done.

The Bargain with this man had gained her something, but also lost. Lips thinned for a moment, and he slowly spoke. "Did you realize he took a piece of you?"

Talus asked. Whatever this man had done, whomever he was, there was nothing good in his work.

"Not much." He added, perhaps to soothe any ill she might feel. "But enough."

 

[Zana]

Her eyes fell once more but not before he might have caught the flash of pain across her eyes.

"No," Zana stared into her cup quietly for some time, her other hand coming down to stroke its way through Greys fur. "Though, I guess..." she hesitated. Her fingers curled into a fist in the pups ruff and he stretched out as she scratched deep into the right spot. "I guess I knew something was different. I didn't care as much before. I didn't question... things... as much before," her last words were slow as she realised exactly who she was saying them to. She looked up at him again and searched his face grimly for some sign of what he was thinking. In her mind this was her last few hours of freedom. The nice interrogation before he hurled her down in front of the Archons for her punishment and execution.

"I thought it was the other soul he put in me but I guess now I know. So that is your gift? To see into a soul?"

 

[Talus]

Talus chuckled. "Perhaps he gave you a gift by taking then."

An odd prospect. Perhaps the bit of her soul that had been taken was...no, such thinking was utter nonsense. He shook his head slightly and finally leaned back in thought. He was oddly...relieved. The idea that Luana could graft souls had terrified him.

Now it was just one crazy man.

"Something like that." He commented quietly, not really willing to reveal everything that he could do. "It's more accurate to say I can see the souls themselves."

What was inside of them? He hadn't mastered that yet. "Yours is mostly whole, the other that is attached to you..."

Talus frowned.

"It is slowly being...absorbed." That was the best way of putting it.

 

[Zana]

So he hadn't lost all of his Dreadlord training then. His careful evasion of her subtle question about his magics was the typical manoeuvre for one such as themselves. For a moment she almost felt sorry for him, for the first time in her whole existence this man knew both her deepest secrets; her visions and her twin souls. It was oddly liberating. Zana nodded at his words as if they made complete sense.

"That is how it feels. When I first got it, it was like a second consciousness in my mind. Whenever I accessed one of the gifts his soul afforded me I could hear him, but now it is barely a ghost of a whisper. It should settle itself soon," the more she trained and the harder she tried. It might never be perfect per see but it would definitely be better than it had been.

She finished her tea and set it down then carefully nudged his own cup towards him pointedly and picked up a muffin before sitting back amongst the cushions. The muffins had been freshly baked the day before and had that homemade taste. These in particular were lemon and blueberry.

 

[Talus]

In truth he was too wrapped up in thought of what might be happening to her, eating didn't even come to mind. When she nudged the cup towards him he looked somewhat surprised, but he did indeed pick it up at least.

"I would not be so sure." Talus said quietly.

The piece of her own soul that was already missing would not be 'replaced' by the other, at least he was pretty sure it would not. There was no real telling what would happen, but if she already experienced changes in personality...

He did not like this, not any of it. "Do you know why I joined the Guard?"

The question would seem to come completely out of the blue. but Talus had his reasons.

 

[Zana]

Zana lifted one bare brown shoulder and dropped it in a casual shrug. It mattered not to her truthfully what happened. She had done what had felt... right for once. It was not a decision she would take back and there was nowt else she could do about it. If she became a problem no Dreadlord would have a problem with cutting her down either so she saw no point in troubling herself over it for now. She lost enough sleep as it was.

"I've heard rumours," she broke a piece of the muffin off and popped it into her mouth as she shifted her position to bring her legs up and under her some. Grey gave a huff in protest but resettled himself quickly enough in the natural crook her legs now made. She offered him a tender scratch behind the ear. Her eyes slid back to him and she gave him a seriously unserious look.

"Is it to arrest Dreadlords who don't conform? Are we finally getting to the point you take me in to the higher authorities? If it is, can I finish my muffin first?"

 

[Talus]

He smiled. "No."

If he thought that Dreadlords would ever face some sort of Law...then perhaps things would have been different.

"It was a truth that I suspect a lot of us already know." He was hardly the wisest, hardly the smartest. It took Fen to snap the lesson into him in fact, his mentor that had chosen to Rebel against the system in his own way. "We're pawns."

Talus took a sip of his tea. "Doesn't matter how strong we get, doesn't matter our rank. First level, Archon, still pawns."

Part of a game that was greater than them.

"The Great Houses don't care about us. The King doesn't care. Hell, I'm willing to bet even the Guard doesn't care." General Ilyena had been kind to him, kinder than any figure of authority, but he was still a tool, a weapon. "I just...I just wanted to do something that nobody expected. Something that felt like it was truly my choice"

He looked at her. "Was that what this decision was for you?"

 

[Zana]

This conversation could get them both killed, Zana thought to herself as she peeled another bit of muffin off and popped it in her mouth. But she was actually enjoying talking frankly for once and not tip-toeing around the issue or trying to convince one another to join their House - or she guessed the Guard in this situation. Her motions began to slow and then stopped entirely the further on he spoke until she was watching him. His face. The slightest twitch of emotion to see if he would betray himself but... no. He had. He had risked his life to keep himself. Zana actually felt admiration for that.

When his eyes raised to meet hers and he asked his question she found herself frowning in thought. Was that what she had done?

"He was the first and still is the only person who has ever asked me what I want," she cast her mind back to that night. It wasn't hard, it had been painful and traumatic. She would carry the echoes of it on her very soul it seemed for a long time to come. Had she let herself be consumed by that rush of owning herself for once? "I learnt a lot about myself that night and have done more so since. I've started doing things I actually... want to do. Hobbies. Taking in Grey," she nodded first to the book and then looked down at the pup who was running in his sleep. "Thinking..." about how things should change. Zana bit down on her lower lip till the blood faded from it. All of her training and programming said this was a terrible idea discussing this. But her house was the only place in the world she actually thought she could have this conversation.

 

[Talus]

Talus slowly nodded his head in understanding. "A man offering a choice. A bargain like that..."

He trailed off.

"Reminds me of a demon." Talus remembered the stories, remembered what he'd heard of bargains struck at crossroads. It seemed entirely unreal, but from the way Zana described it the incident had changed her entire way of thinking.

Had that been intended? For some reason Talus very much doubted it. His head shook for a brief second, and he continued.

"You know they'll kill you if they found out?" They both knew, but an odd string of concern found its way from him. "You've stepped out of their system. Broken the mold."

He found it comforting that there were others like him, others who had errant thoughts, who were pushing away form what they had been crafted to be. "Even if you're useful, it's not enough."

Not when you became a threat.

 

[Zana]

Zana gave him a crooked smile but then shook her head.

"Definitely not a demon."

Of that much she was certain. Though if she ever saw him again she would be having more than words about the taking part of her soul aspect. That had never been a part of the agreement - though she guessed technically it hadn't been against it either. She hated sorcerers sometimes. As he spoke aloud what they were both thinking she watched him quietly for a moment then lowered her eyes as she put the last blueberry in her mouth.

"They were going to kill me the moment they found out I possessed the ability to see into the future," of that much she was certain. At the moment she saw enough about the future of other Houses that it seemed to sate Luana - she had been at the centre of most of the Houses plots since she was 10 years old. Had fed them information in drips and drabs that had become clearer and more pointed as she had grown. But...

"They do not like it when I see things about them I should not know," a soft sigh and she leaned forward to pick up another muffin. "It's a ticking clock and I think... I think I want to try and do something to make a change with my remaining seconds."

She watched him again for a moment trying to figure out why he even cared.

"You should try a muffin, I baked them yesterday," she nudged the tray towards him with her foot.

 

[Talus]

"I do wood carving." Talus offered as he picked up a muffin and took a bite.

Hobbies were something that we're utterly foreign to him before he'd join the Guard. Even after his life had been mostly consumed by doing his job. It had been a Guardsmen that had shifted his attentions. Colette had insisted he pick up a hobby, and he'd done so after a bit of cajoling.

He glanced at her for a moment, frowning. "I did not come here on a recruitment mission."

Yet he would do it all the same.

"But the Guard offers a far better chance for Change than any of the Houses." He knew that better than anyone else. Things had been moving slowly, but the arrest of a Minor Noble had shook most of Vel Anir just weeks ago. That was not something most would have thought possible and Talus and the Guard had made it happen. More than that, he'd made it stick. "I wasn't lying when I said I was tired of being a pawn. Where I am now is the best chance we have to break the chains."

He told her softly. "The five Generals have never dealt with even a single Dreadlord in their ranks, two?"

Talus left the rest unsaid. Zana was smart enough to see it. More than that, she had seen the future that the Great Houses would bring. Talus would not allow it, he only hoped she wouldn't either.

 

[Zana]

Wood... carving... Zana blinked at him twice in rapid succession as if she couldn't quite believe what he had just said. She also couldn't help but wonder if there were more of them. More Dreadlords who had begun to think outside of the box and who were afraid they were alone in wanting in a better life for themselves. She was so lost in that rabbit hole of a thought that she almost didn't hear his proposal. This was now the third offer of a transfer she had been offered since she had lost her soul apparently; had it really made her that much of a different person that people now desired her to join them?

Maybe they were proving inadvertently that it was personality that made them more powerful, more desirable.

"They will kill me if I leave," she lowered her eyes and picked at a thread in her blanket with a small frown. "I'm too valuable an asset for them to allow to wonder elsewhere," she was silent for a little while and when she spoke next there was a true sadness in her voice. "You are lucky you even had a choice in where your alliances went. Luana have had me earmarked since I was six."

 

[Talus]

"We always have a choice." Talus' voice was stern, perhaps more so than he intended it to be.

There was a true amount of passion to the way he spoke, almost as if he were making a declaration rather than an argument. He could understand her words, knew that it had happened to more Dreadlords than most could count.

But it was also exactly what he despised.

The Houses treated them as slaves, puppets, as nothing more than something to be bandied about for their own power. His teeth grit for a second, and then he continued. "You're a person."

Not a weapon.

"You choose your destiny." His fingers scrunched into a fist, crushing the muffin unconsciously. "The choice is yours."

There was almost a tremble to his voice. "But know that I would protect you as I would my own sister."

As he would any other Dreadlords that joined him.

 

[Zana]

To be young and still full of hope.

He had been out of the academy for what? Three years at the most? She was trying to remember how long ago it was that news of the illusive foursome had reached the tower alone. It had sent ripples through the Dreadlord ranks and the Houses. It had been why so many people had been upset when one of them had chosen the Guards. She could still hear the absolute disgust on one of House Weiroons upper lieutenants voices. His passion was admirable but Zana was tired.

She uncurled her legs and then shifted on the sofa so that she was sat on the edge. After a slight hesitation she reached over the gap to where he was sat and took the hand which had crushed the muffin. Gently, Zana pried it open and removed the poor crushed treat.

"I wouldn't want to drag the Guards into Luana's sphere of politics. People underestimate them," her lips pressed into a grim line as she held his gaze. She thought back to Lazlo all those years ago and how she had helped inadvertently throw an entire group of Guards under the bus. It made her sick still to this day. "I'm also... tired. Tired of having to owe anyone my allegiance. Tired of having to explain myself to anyone. Tired of seeing the same things happen year after year..." she took a deep breath and shut her eyes.

 

[Talus]

"I understand." Talus answered quietly.

He was not a politician. He was not a spy. He was not a snake that could whisper into someone's ear and convince them of something that they did not want. That was not who Talus had come to be, that was not who he wanted to be.

The young Dreadlord wanted change, he would work towards it the best he could in whatever way he knew how. But he would not cajole her. He would not tear at her or guilt her into making a decision she did not want.

That was what they would do. "I want to break the system Zana."

He said softly.

"I know that it will probably break me before I can, but I still want to try." His fingers slowly curled, brushing against her skin for a brief moment. "Because right now the only way any of us can stop being tired is..."

For a moment his breath hitched. "Is to just lay down and die."

And that was something he could not just accept.

 

[Zana]

The gentle caress against her hand brought her back from the dark thoughts she was spiralling through. She wanted to break it too, she realised with a calm clarity as something in her resonated with his words. A soft laugh escaped her lips when he spoke of laying down to die.

"Well if it is one bit of Dreadlord training that they will rue putting in to me it is that ability to keep on fighting till my last breath," she picked another crushed blueberry and crumb paste out of his hand and put it neatly on the tray.

"I want to help you, but I think I can help you more from within the Houses," she would be able to get access to resources and information he wouldn't whilst he was in the Guards. "You know. Luana ask every year if any of the Dreadlords want to volunteer their time to help with Guard duties as a show of unity... maybe I should put my name down," it would give them a reason to be seen together if anyone noticed they were talking to one another on more than one occasion.

 

[Talus]

He smiled. Had he actually convinced her to do something. Had he managed it? Tlaus had never been the sort to convince somebody with words, always actions.

Despite himself he felt almost...pleased.

A part of him, a small part that had been trained at the Academy still warned him that this was some sort of trap. Yet the greater part of him, the piece that had come to grow with the Guard around him wanted nothing more than to believe her.

So that was what he did. "I think that would be a good idea."

He told her with a smile.

"Though I fear it will be all the more dangerous to you." Talus seemed genuinely concerned oddly enough.