Private Tales Read between the lines

[Talus]

"No, Ma'am." He said with a frown.

The events in his head were quickly played over. It was clear that he cared for Talus, and he did not want to give any details that were wrong. Eyes closed for a brief moment, and then he began to list off exactly what he knew.

"He was seen last night." Thawne began. "He and I were finishing up assignments. There was one he said he would take care of himself but..."

Lips thinned. "It wasn't a major problem. Something in the city having to do with House Tell."

House Tell was a minor House, involved mostly in the business of shipping along the Cortosi Coast and doing business there. There were Rumors the house was involved with the Radiant Church, though those were just rumors.

 

[Zana]

Zana pulled herself on to her horses bare back and fisted her hands in his mane in order to hide how badly they were shaking. A minor house had attempted to kill Talus once, being used as the front by one of the Seven, had he thought that something similar might be going on with House Tell? As far as she knew he hadn't told anyone about the Forsaken being sent against them, nor of the Assassination attempt on his life before.

"It's okay, Raaf, I'm going to find him," she soothed. It didn't take an empath to see the man was stressed and upset by the situation. "But I need you to tell me everything about this assignment. Do you know where he was going to look first?" whilst she spoke she was testing the bond again. She didn't think he was in the city, he felt too far away but she at least had a general desire to go South towards the Falwood.

 

[Talus]

Raaf considered for a moment. "House Tell has an estate."

The Lieutenant frowned.

"North of the city, in the King's forest." Thawne knew that was where Talus had intended on going. "He had wanted to speak to the Head of the House, a simple conversation about grain supplies that were supposed to go to the Guard."

That was it. The 'mission' had been meant to be just a few quick words. "There wasn't supposed to be any threat. Hence why I came here."

No reason for Talus to have gone missing.

"It doesn't make any sense." Raaf told her. "There was no danger."

 

[Zana]

Zander pranced impatiently from hoof to hoof as the two humans spoke. The war horse was ready to be on his way and make up for the mission he had been left behind on. The Kings Forest was in the opposite direction to where she sensed the bond going but it made logical sense to track his footsteps. They could have moved him in the 24 hours he had been missing of course. It would be reckless to keep him on the estate.

Zana pursed her lips.

"When the Houses are involved there is always danger, it is best you remember that," her eyes lingered on the mans face for a moment, capturing his gaze with her iron one. Clearly she meant that was a warning for his spending time with Bella too; it was a dangerous game.

"Is there a reason he would have gone south?"

 

[Talus]

Raaf frowned, then shook his head. "No."

No reason that he could think of. The Lieutenant and Talus had set up a rigid schedule to ensure everything got done when it was supposed to. They backed one another up and made sure that nothing slipped through the cracks. That was why Raaf was here now, why he'd come to Zana.

"If House Tell took him they've made a grave mistake." He said with a scowl.

Talus had already destroyed a Minor House by exposing their crimes and forcing the hands of the Seven Great Houses to take action. Now it seemed that another was taking its vengeance for what he had done, or was it something more complicated than that? Lieutenant Thawne gently scratched at his beard.

"He wouldn't have gone south." Raaf said confidently. "They must have taken him."

 

[Zana]

"I can find him," of that Zana had no doubt. What she was worried about was going on her own. Dreadlords were famous for their arrogance when it came to their strengths and often pushed themselves to dangerous limits because of it. But Zana had always been more cautious. Partly it helped maintain the illusion she was weaker than she was but it was also because she knew no matter how hard she pushed herself on the field they would still hurl her in for visions and they required her strength more.

She was even more aware right now of how exhausted she was. The last 48 hours had drained and tainted her magic, its lasting effects unknown. If she went storming in to a trap on her own...

"Do you have a horse with you?" Her eyes scanned nearby. "I might require assistance."

 

[Talus]

Raaf nodded his head. "If you give me twenty minutes I can bring five more."

It was late at night, they would likely not find Talus for some time, and technically speaking they should have reported all of this to the Aldwaith. Yet that didn't matter.

For Talus there were no rules. For their commander the men of the Guard would ride until the end of the earth and into the Abyss itself. Talus had earned the loyalty of his subordinates, and that showed in how Raaf now stood. He would go without the others if Zana asked, but if there was trouble backup would be more than useful.

"Jun, Oliver, Varik, Penn, and Lola." He said, listing off the names. "They'll all come without question."

 

[Zana]

Zana was torn.

She had wanted to leave as soon as Raaf had told her Talus was missing but had held off tearing into the unknown because it might have cost them both. Every second she hesitated was another knife of fear in her heart. Was he hurt? Would he survive until she got there?

"Fifteen, go. I'll meet you at the Southern gate," her order was strained with emotion and there was a clear tenseness to her face, visible in the set of her jaw and a tightness around the eyes. With those being her final words she wheeled Zandor about and went galloping off with Grey close behind.

 

[Talus]

Raaf gave a nod, a quick salute, and then he rushed over to the nearby forest where he had hidden his horse. Within just a single minute he was galloping off back towards the city to collect the others who would come with.

For the loyal Lieutenant this was urgent

Talus was his commanding officer, his leader, but he had also become a friend. Raaf knew that his own date was tied with Talus, beyond just his career, beyond any of that nonsense. He wanted to make sure that his friend was okay.

That he hadn't gotten him killed somehow.

In exactly fourteen minutes flat Raaf appeared with the other five Guardsmen behind him. They each had their own horse, and each were dressed in standard black leathers.

None of them wore the insignia of the Guard, Raaf having told them not to just in case things went awry. "Ma'am. All here.all understand."

His face was stern, serious.

 

[Zana]

Zana hadn't been idle during those 14 minutes either.

Being so close to the Luana barracks had its upsides. She was mostly concerned about the taint on her power that might have come from her previous mission so she swung by the healers for a quick once over, carefully to keep the two children shielded from any probing senses. Explaining she was heading straight back out again they even shared a little of their energy with her, bolstering her own reserves, so that when the others arrived it didn't look at all as though she had just done a 48 hour mission with Blackforge.

The Dreadlord had even had time to change. Much like the others she had ditched her tell tale armour with the Luana emblem and was dressed in black leather breeches and a thicker leather jerkin. The black studs caught the moonlight as Zandor pranced beneath her.

"Very well," Zana's eyes ran over the group for a moment and then without another word she turned Zandor in the direction she sensed Talus and let the horse go.

If the Guards had thought it was just an exaggerated rumour of how hard Dreadlords pushed their men on missions then that was quickly put to rest with Zana in the lead of the group. She didn't let them stop. Through the forest their horses galloped; the only sounds amongst the trees were that of their own breaths and the horses hoofbeats. The group had been going flat out for close to two hours when Zana finally, reluctantly, brought them down to a walk and got them to dismount to give the horses a break.

"It's not further," she commented. The bond was stronger now, as strong as it got when she was nearing the cabin.

 

[Talus]

Through the bond Zana would feel a sense of pain, agony, flashes of anger and rage the likes of which Talus had never displayed before.

As they crept forward the agents of Vel Anir would see a castle before them, smaller than some House Estates in in the City, but a castle all the same. It was ringed by a large moat, a thick wall, and then another that seemed to rise upon a small mountain. At it's peak was a small keep, the stone gray.

"Castle Ostwatch." Raaf said quietly as they stopped just short of the clearing which surrounded the moat, the Lieutenant digging through his satchel until he pulled out a spyglass.

"It was built during the Second Elven War as a watchpost." He explained. "Was taken from the Guard nearly a hundred and fifty years ago when it was deemed 'unnecesary'."

He'd not known that House Tell now controlled it.

 

[Zana]

Zana tied off Zandor's reins and crouched down in the last bit of undergrowth on the fringes of the clearing with the rest of the group. Everyone had a determined set to their jaw as they scanned with professional eyes the perimeters of the castle. It had been designed to withstand a siege of both magical and physical natures and bore the scars proudly of those who had not succeeded on its brickwork.

We're coming.

Zana tried to press reassurances down through the bond along with her love but it was hard to ignore her own mirroring anger. Whoever was hurting him was about to pay with more than their life.

"Go," she said quietly to the great grey wolf. Such an animal would not stand out this deep in the forests and the pair had done this before. Quietly he slunk from the shadows and pretended to be following a scent of some kind.

"Talus is underground, the dungeons I would imagine. House Tell have a few Dreadlords in their service - I don't know if they are here but it would be well to remember your lessons. They won't hold back on you like Talus and I do," her gaze swept over the assembled group and she realised, with a start, this was the first mission she had been on with them.

 

[Talus]

The soldiers all nodded their heads, none seemed to even think about backing down. "We'll have to swim across. Jun, stay on this side with your bow until we get across."

A nod was the answer from the small woman, bow quickly swept from her shoulder and strung in one smooth motion as an arrow was knocked a second later. Raaf then turned to the others and motioned them forward, the four remaining Guardsmen following behind Zana.

Nothing came for Grey, and when their furry forward scout attracted no attention the group crept towards the moat.

Raaf was the first in the waters, slowly lowering himself into the murky depths and swimming across them without much of a second thought. He made as little movement as possible, only the slightest ripples forming across the moat as he swam across.

Strangely enough, the bond didn't receive an answer, only that steady flow of emotion.

 

[Zana]

Zana was the second in the freezing cold water with Grey right behind her. The wolf swum ahead with his tongue lolling out as though they were all doing this for fun. Despite the harrowing situation she couldn't help but smile a little at his undying loyalty towards her and Talus both. She was certain that he would follow them both to the ends of time itself.

Once they got to the other side the Dreadlord quietly murmured a spell that dried the group off; it would do them little good to go squelching through the rest of the castle leaving a trail in their wake. With that done and Jun making her way across now that the others were ready to defend themselves should there be need, Zana turned to look up at the walls that loomed in front of them.

"I'll go first," she glanced to the others and then with a breath made a circular discus of purple energy beneath her feet which rose into the air slowly. As she drew nearer to the top she slowed her movements and then peered over the edge. A moment or two later a guard walked past and Zana ducked her head back down beneath the parapets. She waited a few beats and then peered over again. With the coast clear she pulled herself up and over the edge and then made a similar discus for the guards at the bottom, raising them up to join her.

"Beneath the keep," Zana nodded quietly in the direction they needed to go.

 

[Talus]

The Guards that Zana killed would be the last the group encountered.

As they stepped into the Keep they found the walls smeared with blood and the floors littered with corpses. Men and women lay slaughtered and scattered upon the floor. Some had their throats cut, others sat with strange puncture wounds, and some seemed to have withered and died where they lay.

"Uhh..." Raaf stopped a few steps into the hallway of the keep, his fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword.

He cast a glance towards Zana. "Ma'am?"

The Lieutenant stood frozen, his features full of concern as he looked at the slaughter that lay out ahead of him. The others fell in behind Zana, stepping forwards slowly and looking around with grim faces.

Through the bond Zana would still feel Talus, his anger still there, still alive.

 

[Zana]

Grey trotted over to one of the bodies and sniffed it all over before pulling back with a low growl. Zana crouched down on the other side and examined the wounds methodically. When Raaf spoke she drew her eyes away slowly and looked up at him, then the others. Her jaw clenched and she looked back down at the childs body. With a deep breathe, Zana closed her eyes and touched the corpse.

It was always hard to try and get a vision off of a dead body. For some reason it didn't seem to store the thing her visions needed to activate. Stone was the best followed by metal. Still, it served to give her a few flashes of what had passed here.

"The Radiant Church," Zana stood abruptly. There was no mistaking that symbol even if the rest was sketchy.

"Our focus is Talus, we will deal with the House's betrayal after," with no other word she turned on her heel and started down the stairs to where she could feel him.

 

[Talus]

As they descended further and further down into the keep they would see more of the same as above.

Bodies strewn here and there, blood painted on the walls, scorch marks and odd divets within the wall that told the story of a battle gone by. Like those above the bodies they passed belong to soldiers, those wearing the mark of House Tell, or a strange robed men who bore no sigil at all.

Zana would recognize the last from her time in the northern reaches, where the Radiant Church had wiggled it's way into Anirian territory. The robes marked the men as converts and agents of the Solar Choire.

Yet they were dead, all of them, and as they reached the final room within the dungeon the reason why became clear.

Standing within the middle of a massive chamber was Talus. Religious symbols and altars lay scattered about, all of them dedicated to the Radiant and his wonders. Upon them lay corpses, blood, and nothing but dead men. Strewn around Talus were four dead bodies, all of them wearing the marks of Dreadlords. Three of them Zana would not recognize, but one she would. His name had been Jul, a first level famed for his stoic nature and fervant loyalty.

Talus stood in the middle of them, a shattered sword in one hand, blood coating his clothes.

Dozens of cuts and gashes littered his body, his face bruised and swollen, the veins in his arms stood from his flesh, oddly black and in contrast from the crimson that coated him. His chest was rising and falling, and when she saw him Zana would feel an odd hollowness.

The sound of their steps alerted Talus, and the Dreadlord flinched a she turned and clearly readied himself for another fight.

Then he saw her.

A wave of relief washed over the bond, and without a word Talus collapsed to his knees. Agony pouring through to Zana.

 

[Zana]

Her gaze swept over the bodies, realisation dawning on her for a moment before finally her eyes landed on her fiance.

Zana forgot the other guards were even there. In a flash she was in front of Talus, on her knees with her hands softly cradling his cheeks. The agony was too much for any caution or other thoughts to cloud her mind. With a careful thumb beneath his chin she tilted his head up to capture his gaze.

"What happened?" She searched those blue pools for answers to more than the question she asked outloud; how badly was he hurt, how could she ease his suffering, how could she make them pay for what they had done to him.

She glanced down to the broken blade and her jaw hardened then she turned to look over her shoulder at the others.

"Split up in twos, do a sweep. If there is anyone left bring them to me. Now. Go."

 

[Talus]

Talus' head was swimming, fingers tightening around the hilt of his broken sword as he took a deep breath. "They took me after me meeting."

He frowned for a moment, looking over towards Jul's corpse. The First Level Dreadlord had been a loyal servant of House Sirl for years, yet House Tell had stood in opposition for them for generations. Talus had pointed that out during his interrogation, taunted the man with it, and all he'd received was a prayer in reply.

The man had been the last to die, the hardest to kill.

"These four." He gestured to the Dreadlords. "And two priests...I think I killed them above."

It was all still a haze.

The guardsmen lingered for just a moment, then quickly fanned out just as Zana had told them to do.

Talus shook his head. "They intended to take me to a port tomorrow, send me to Cortos to execute me for what happened on the border."

It was the Anirian Guard that had been in charge of that operation, and thus the blame for it from the Free Cities had fallen to him; the man that had been in command. The Radiant Church was nothing if not vengeful, though from what Talus understood this had not been ordered by them directly..

Those within the Keep had spoken of great reward and praise.

He paused for a moment.

"I think House Tell intended on gaining favor and then using the Churches resources to rise." He frowned for a moment, a grim chuckle rising in his throat. "I doubt that's possible now."

 

[Zana]

Once they were alone Zanas slipped one arm around his torso and the other about his shoulders to pull him in tight against her chest. Her heart was hammering so hard it threatened to burst from her ribcage. Relief mingled with her anger and fear at what could have happened if he hadn't been strong enough to do this alone.

"It's okay," she whispered against his hair, though whether she was trying to soothe herself or him was up for debate. Her fingers ran through his dirty blonde locks. "I've got you, you're safe and it's over for now," tenderly she pressed a kiss to his temple and shut her eyes to take a deep calming breath.

After a few moments Zana reluctantly let him go though her fingers lingered on him as though she were scared if she let go he might disappear.

"Can you walk? The horses are just outside the gates. Let's get you home."

 

[Talus]

He grunted softly as Zana pulled him slightly to his feat. "I can walk."

There was no doubt he was in need of a doctor though.

The fight, or rather, the slaughter had clearly taken quite a bit out of him. As Zana soon found out nobody in the Fortress was left alive. The Guards that she herself had killed had been the last living inside the whole place, and only met their fate because they had been out on patrol beyond Talus' reach.

A breath filled his lungs as the Guardsmen joined them again and told them everything was clear, Talus offering them all a warm smile as Zana began to help him up the stairs.

The younger Dreadlord frowned slightly as they walked, the Guards surrounding them like protective parents.

"Zana." He said quietly. "I think I burnt myself out."

His voice was a quiet whisper.

 

[Zana]

Despite Talus' assurances he could walk she still insisted on taking some of his weight and slid his arm about her shoulders. She was watching Grey trot ahead of the group leading the way towards the exit where he could no doubt smell the fresher air beneath the strench of death when Talus leaned his head against hers and whispered his confession. Her whole body froze and she almost missed a step. Being burnt out was dangerous for mages. Magic was tied to their very beings and running it down to the point you couldn't use it was like a normal person running until they broke their legs.

The danger with magic is that it might not always come back.

"You'll be fine," Zana insisted sternly. "We're going to get you to a proper healer and they'll be able to tell us," her fingers tightened briefly on his hip. She was clearly terrified at the idea for him to have lost his magic and she was hoping against all odds he was going to be well again.

 

[Talus]

"I'm not worried." Surprisingly, he meant that when he said it.

If he had learned anything over his last few months with the Guard it was the fact that having no magic didn't make you less than. These five soldiers had risked their lives for him, had run into the same battle that Zana had.

There was no shame in being ordinary, that much he was sure of. No matter if he lost his magic or not. He grimaced slightly as they reached the last step, head woozy.

"Right now." He grunted. "I'm more worried about these wounds."

Talus pulled his hand away from his side for a second, shifting slightly in pain.

He'd lost a lot of blood.

 

[Zana]

Zana's mind flickered through all the problems they would face with Talus not having magic especially with twins on the way who already apparently possessed great magical potential. She didn't voice them though. One problem at a time, she quietly reminded herself, and the main problem right now was ensuring their children even had a father to grow up with.

"Just a little further," Zana half told him, half pleaded with him. They had reached the outer wall and two of the guards were working on getting the drawbridge down. Grey darted across the moment it hit the other side and Zana brought her fingers to her lips to whistle. Zandor came pelting across the clearing a moment later.

"You two, get him laying down for a moment and that armour off I'm going to see what I can do for the bleeding," she motioned to Raaf and Lola before fiddling about in her saddle bags. A moment or two later she came back with a bundle of bandages and ointments. With surprising tenderness she began to clean then stuff the gaping wounds and bandage them tightly.

 

[Talus]

Talus let out a hiss as Zana scraped one of the wounds, his lips twisting in a grimace as he felt a fresh bandage pressed against the gash.

His head was spinning by now, both from the agony of the torture he had endured and the wounds from his battle. The slaughter in the keep had not been an easy one, and the truth of that could be seen in the effects on Talus' body.

Jul had not been an easy opponent.

The first level Dreadlord had been a manipulator of metals. That was how Talus had lost his sword, how the blade which had been forged by dwarven hands and never needed to be sharpened had been shattered Into a thousand pieces. Talus still clutched the hilt, holding it firmly as Zana tended to him.

As she slowly saw to his wounds Talus glanced at some of the Guardsmen around them. He recognized them all of course, and a smile touched his face. "I'll have to write them all up for disorderly conduct."

Talus joked quietly as he looked up at Zana.

"No way this was an approved. Mission." A chuckle wracked his chest, causing him to suddenly cringe in pain.