Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Raigryn Vayd]

There were more coming. He caught a brief glimpse of them as he slowly advanced. He kept the tip of his sword held up threateningly, but this did not seem to be a beast that could be threatened. It reeked of chaotic magic.

It came forwards, jaws gnashing. A quick thrust and his sword caught it just above the eye, cutting deep. That drove it back, but only a little.

"Damn these things," he hissed.

 

[Fife]

The movement out of the corner of her eye confirmed what she had expected. More. But her attention was on the one on the ground in front of her. It swung at her, and Fife danced out of its reach.

Not too far, however. She kept close enough to encourage it to the same action again. Except this time when it swiped at her, she followed with one of her own. Just a touch of Fury tingled along Fife's arms, and the thing's hand (if it could be called that) came off at the wrist.

She felt a brief moment of excitement that it had actually worked. It was a short-lived celebration as she was immediately pushed back as it doubled its efforts to reach her. Fife was careful to retreat away from the bridge, at least.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

They didn't let up. Most beasts knew to retreat when wounded. He had seen it in the wilds. Wounded predators did not survive long. They couldn't keep up with the herd, couldn't hunt and eat. These were not beasts, they were monsters of magic fused with flesh.

Raigryn dropped his weight back, sweeping his sword out to the sight. He didn't channel this time. Drawing from his reserves he built up a weight against his control. The moment the monster came forward he let that pressure free.

The control and strength that flowed in one sudden burst was balanced on a knife edge of control. The air hissed in protest at the speed of the keen edge of his sword.

He didn't decapitate the monster, not quite. His blade went so deep that perhaps half of its neck was left.

 

[Fife]

Fife danced between her feet, evading the scrabbling pursuit. She was staying one step ahead of it. Barely. Even with three of its limbs at half mobility and some parts entirely missing, it still didn't give up. Maybe Raigryn's plan to fall back was the better one. Not something she was ready to admit out loud yet.

She couldn't evade forever, and Fife couldn't be picky about what shots the creature gave her. Stepping left, she braced herself instead of feinting, and her sword clanged against its claws as she swatted them away. Following through, she stepped up inside its reach and a flash of Fury lit up her arms like fire once again. Her sword bit deep into the joint of its neck and shoulder. It was the execution of weeks of lessons.

Her training hadn't accounted for a creature that wasn't deterred by pain and detriment, however. She had no sooner begun to pull her sword to withdraw to a safe distance again when it grabbed the sword. Fife gasped, all the more she had time for before its handless arm swept her legs. For a brief moment she was weightless, then her back squarely hit the ground.

Before, she had been afraid. Now she was afraid and pissed.

The creature lunged forward, but her boot came up sharply to check it. Fife twisted to avoid its claws as they smashed into the cobblestones, but she quickly rolled back to pin it beneath her shoulder. Her arm locked around its, keeping it close, and her other hand whipped to her belt.

Left with only one defense, it gnashed its maw at her again. This time it wasn't a boot that met it, but a knife. It did the work for her, it's own momentum burying it through an eye socket to the hilt.

When it reeled back with an unholy noise, Fife grabbed her sword and yanked it free as she rolled away. Panting for breath, she still got to her feet and squared up in preparation for more.

It looked like that would do it. She hoped that that would do it. Only when she was sure she was well out of reach, she looked toward Raigryn. A frightening learning curve, but in line with everything else she'd been through over the last year. That wasn't something she had learned from Aretta, however.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Gritty, but it worked. When Raigryn had seen the created get up close and personal his heart had been in his mouth. She was a fighter. She hadn't chosen to be, not before she had met him. Fife hadn't survived her upbringing by being soft.

"Take more than that to get you, eh?" Raigryn said.

A deep snarl came from behind. He turned to look back across the rocky walkway. Another group of the creatures were stalking across from the next island.

"Mind you, that would probably do it. We need to go."

Before he could even turn for the horses there was a screech of metal. A silvery line swung out, whipped through the air and tore through the creatures. A hail of jagged shards fell from the sky, impaling those few that remained standing.

He followed that silvery thread to see someone on the far island twirling the slender chain over his head. It was clearly following some magical direction to fly out that far and fast. Another figure joined him. A man and a woman, both with clean shaven heads.

"We should leave the city," he said sternly.

 

[Fife]

Fife laughed in spite of her wounded pride and the tense situation -- a hallmark of her resilience as telling as her scrappiness. Her ability to laugh in the middle of fear and anger and sorrow had gotten her through more trouble than she had yet been able to tell him.

More were coming, however. Yes, that would probably do it. She could handle one at a time, but she wasn't experienced enough to handle two, and she wasn't sure Raigryn could handle too many on his own.

She had only taken a step toward the fallen creature to retrieve her knife when the silvery thread and hail swept through their ranks. Her eyes followed up as well, and whatever remnants of her amusement remained had fled from her face. Monsters weren't as frightening to her as living, thinking people. Fife didn't need to be told twice.

Wielding her sword in caution, just in case it wasn't actually dead, Fife put her boot on the creature's head and yanked her knife free. With a grimace, she wiped it on her britches and hurried back to Socks. She didn't bother taking the blindfold off him as she jumped onto his back; if they ran into more trouble, she didn't trust him to be as calm as Dusty. As it were, he danced nervously at being mounted, and Fife shushed him and rubbed his neck as she slipped his reins free from Raigryn's saddle.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"We're leaving," Raigryn said bluntly. "Things are bad if they're showing their faces publicly."

If the upper levels weren't safe then he wasn't willing to try and make it to the college. The horses weren't for charging through magical monsters. If they panicked they could easily lead them off an edge and to a rather great drop.

"I want to help, but there's only so much we can do," Raigryn said. He got up onto Dusty. His horse probably wouldn't have been panicked if his tail was on fire.

---

"You recognise those mages?" Cassalia asked as she approached. Her eyes were on the pair of riders retreating down the walkway.

"They're not college staff," replied Allage. His fingers moved in the air and the chain wrapped itself back around his arm as if it were a pet returning to its master.

 

[Fife]

Fife couldn't quite resist the urge to look back as they started down the slope once again. Raigryn had never been so blatantly cautious of anyone. She had no idea who "they" were. Hopefully he would tell her once they were properly distanced and he could rest assured that they weren't watching anymore.

They turned the corner and the strange images left their sight, which only made her feel more uneasy. She looked back at Raigryn and, as she often did, wondered what was on his mind.

While Fife was a little guilty that she couldn't help stop whatever this was, she wouldn't lose any more sleep on it. She had a feeling, however, that it wasn't going to sit well with the other half of their duo. If not his inability to help on his own, then the gnawing curiosity of what had happened here.

She was laying bets with herself now that they came back after seeing the librarian. Potentially with more help and preparation.

She couldn't reassure him from where Socks plodded along behind Dusty, so she resolved to make a point of it later. Fife waited until they were well out of sight of the creatures before reaching up to take the blindfold off of him. He needed to see the path. With a sigh, she tucked her severed sleeve into a pocket; she was terrible at mending, but she would mend a thousand sleeves if it meant her stubborn pony got to pluck on another day.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Despite being 'empaths' there used to be a lot of us trained as battle mage," he said out of the blue as they levelled out and turned towards the city gates.

"The college does not train all that many wizards for war any more. Instead of our order you're left with the Dreadlords of Vel Anir and here in the shadows an enclave of magical assassins. Order of the Steel Coin, they're called. Because they take a magically imbued coin for a contract that becomes harder and harder to carry until the deed is done."

He gave a hard yank on the reins to turn Dusty through the gate. The horse sped up a little on his own accord at the sight of open ground.

"I wonder how many empaths do dark things to survive these days."

 

[Fife]

Keeping her senses open and alert took priority over watching Raigryn as they picked their way back toward the city gates. Her eyes regularly cast back behind them and there was an unpleasant tension in her shoulders. It wasn't a new feeling, the shiver up her spine like she was constantly being watched. Fife tried to tell herself it was in her head, a thing she made up because she was already unnerved.

He spoke suddenly, and her head swiveled around to glance his way with eyes wide with momentary surprise. As usual, his voice had a calming power -- even if the content of his remarks was not necessarily light.

To Fife, training people who were more in tune with emotions to kill other people seemed backwards. Still, she understood why. Magic always came with a cost. Empathy tapped into a wellspring as unending as humanity itself. War certainly evoked strong emotions, and Fife could think of manifestations of all eight Aspects that could be found on a battlefield.

She didn't know anything about Vel Anir, but something about the Order of the Steel Coin made her skin crawl. Perhaps because it was close to home and she'd heard talk of secret assassin guilds in her past. Fife hadn't really associated with the best of people, after all.

They finally turned through city gates and, with a sigh of relief, she spurred Socks after Dusty. He tossed his head up in protest even though he hurried to comply more than she'd urged him to. Riding up beside Raigryn, she offered a small reassuring smile.

It is good you found me, she told him. Not all of them were likely as lucky as she was. Fife didn't know if she believed in the gods or not, but if something had guided her into his hand, then she owed it her thanks.

With one final glance back toward the city they left behind, Fife loosed a deep breath.

Do you think those were Empaths? she asked.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"No, I don't think they were. I think that was a fork of college magic being used. But you're right: it is good that I found you. A group like that works the streets at night. If they'd crossed paths with you..."

Raigryn decided not to think about that possibility too much. Fife probably already was. He was taken back rather suddenly to the tension of the idemni assassins watching Fife so closely. He was glad she had left her to make her own mind up, despite being frightened that she might have been whisked away from him.

She was rather talented with a short blade. It was probably something to find a sensible teacher for some day.

"Right now they are probably wondering who exactly we are."

 

[Fife]

If they'd crossed paths with her. He let it hang in the air, an unknown neither of them liked. A missed opportunity for their order and a possibility she didn't want to dwell on. Fife shuddered and shook off the chill that swept up her back like an icy finger. No sense dwelling too much on that; she'd given similar thoughts enough time over the last year.

We didn't do visible Empathy. We look not important. More or less what she wanted to say. His use of Desire was the most outward bit of magic he had done, right? Surely other types of magic could manipulate gravity. Empaths were not the be-all-end-all of mages. Without another Empath present, could they still distinguish the outlawed magic?

Fife shook her head. We are going far away. Small fish. She hoped she was right.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"You are correct. We didn't do anything too obvious. Small fish indeed. And they have bigger problems right now."

That, he thought as he looked over his shoulder, was something of an understatement. The assassins might have been from a despicable, shadowy organisation but they would only be out in the open because their lives and their home was at risk.

Sometimes they had trackers. Dogs that could sniff out magic for following their quarry. They had some very particular magics, but Raigryn new very little on the specifics. No one outside the Order did.

"Some very nice work with the sword against a dangerous creature back there," he said, starting to pick up the pace on the open road.

 

[Fife]

Much bigger problems. But based on how quickly they had taken care of those creatures, they were far better equipped to handle those problems. Fife hoped the abyss and creatures were enough to keep their eyes from straying outside of the city long enough for them to disappear.

She gave him a doubtful look. Was he serious, or was she walking into a trap?

Better with the knife, she signed with a smirk. Don't tell Aretta it knocked me down. Like he was going to see her at the dinner tent tonight and casually mention it. Her grin widened.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"I think Aretta will forgive the infraction in the circumstances," he laughed. "I don't think she would believe the circumstances around the story anyway."

Mind you, he thought to himself, the woman had faced up to a werewolf with the rest of them and stood her ground.

"You could always train with a shorter blade and a knife in the off-hand. It's a style I've seen. Perhaps more for duelling atistocrats though. A knife won't slow down an orc.

"We're going to head south a way to a stream I know. We're going to use it to cover our tracks in case anyone does follow. The ground is rather firm right now."

A few months ago and he would have taken that decision without a word to her. Their relationship had changed.

 

[Fife]

Hearing him laugh softened her smile and eased some of the tension in her shoulders. Aretta wasn't likely to be terribly keen on the monster story after her brush with the werewolf. She had trained Fife to fight other people, not things like this.

It was her turn, however, to laugh.

You have more friends who owe you a debt and will teach me? she asked with a note to humor. Raigryn's connections seemed endless. She half expected a genuine confirmation to what she suggested in jest.

A path through the water would be chilly, but it would be better than leaving an obvious trail. Fife nodded, glancing up at the sun to gauge the time then back toward the broken city growing smaller. Spurring Socks to close the distance the pony had lost by slowing down, she gently whistled Raigryn's name.

I am glad you are alright. She didn't try to laugh it off or minimize the worry that bled through her mind. Warmth colored her freckled cheeks and her eyes only met his briefly.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn saw the look on her face. Something slowly uncoiled within him. The tension of battle had him close off his mind, even to her. He had been holding that tight. Raigryn let go, let her feel the wash of relief and in the moment, the very acute sense of how he felt for her. There was nothing quite like impending death to focus the mind on what it held dear.

Raigryn leaned across the space, placing his hand over hers briefly. It wasn't a position he could hold for long whilst they wrote moving, so he sat back upright again.

"There are not so many people who feel they owe me a debt as deeply as the idemni," he laughed. "Perhaps a few favours here and there, but I really need to make some more coin again. But what I really need to do, is not end up in the Librarian's list of bad people..."

 

[Fife]

She felt a little silly to be flustered about a small scuffle. He hadn't been in any real danger. They'd crossed far far more dangerous paths. The reciprocation from his own mind as it opened helped. He took her hand for a moment, closing the distance, and Fife turned hers over to hold it as long as it lingered. Her fingers chased after the touch as he withdrew.

Nothing else needed saying. His hands spoke the same language as hers for once, orated by the colors around her head.

As the conversation turned back to more casual topics, she felt so much more at ease. She'd dwell in her thoughts of the day when it was quiet tonight and she couldn't sleep. For now, she smiled back.

On the topic of coin, all she did was smile and nod. Threat of bodily harm over a book, on the other hand...

Book friend next? she suggested, brow rising in playful question. I will finish the book soon. That she annotated unnecessarily with excitement. Fife was still reqding as slow as molasses on a cold morning, but progress was progress. And taking it back meant finally meeting this strange librarian figure.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Yes," Raigryn laughed. "I am being extra careful on our tracks because she really, really does not like unexpected visitors. It might be a small cache of knowledge that she sits on but it's value is great. She weighs up its value to the world in knowledge as far more than coin, but raiders would not see it the same way."

"I hope," he said softly, "that you didn't spell any food on any of the pages?"

Raigryn was teasing. He was mostly teasing. He wasn't quite sure what length the Librarian would go to look after her books but it was not something he wanted to push.

"If we're going on travels we might not be able to take much away, but if I explain you're learning I'm sure she will heap books upon a table for you."

 

[Fife]

Fife gasped at the teasing. Her brow furrowed and she threw him a dark look. The scowl was out of place against the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

I did not, she signed with sharp, deliberate gestures. I be very careful.

The promise of more books, however, sent the forced attitude packing. Sure? she asked. She hoped he was right. Fife had gone her whole life without stories, and she was very much enjoying the book she had slowly made her way through. There had been a few nights she had fought to keep reading in the fading light.

Something to look forward to. Something to help shake off the nerves of the fight they'd been in not too long ago and the tangle of feelings about Elbion.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn shook his head at the sass back. He could be frustratingly immune to her scowling. He changed direction and soon they were following a gentle slope down towards a small stream.

The horses could easily walk through the shallow waters and he turned them again to back the way they had come from.

Only a few hundred yards would make it difficult for any tracker to pick their markings back up again.

"Oh yes. Her passion for learning through reading is...terrifying." Raigryn decided not to sugar coat it. "Do not get caught folding a page."

 

[Fife]

Socks made a small show of not wanting to go in the water and Fife had to give him a few bumps of her heel to his barrel to get him going again. Even then she had the suspicion that it was more to catch up to Dusty than because of her urging. As his legs were much shorter than the horse's, Fife tucked up her feet to bare her boots from being splashed in the chilly water.

Fife let her horror at the idea of folding a page broadcast ahead to Raigryn. Who folded book pages? She understood why the librarian would get angry. Creases in the pages! A book like the one she currently possessed could have taken months to compose and bind.

His use of the word 'terrifying' piqued her interest, however. He had been so careful about what details he revealed about this mysterious friend of his. If she wasn't some otherworldly being with a monstrous tome obsession, she was going to be sorely disappointed.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

The two of them were either going to get along famously, or Raigryn supposed he was going to be on the sidelines of the most impressive scowling match in a thousand years.

As the horses splashed, one more content than the other, Raigryn began to sing quietly. He started with an old war song about replacing the faces of your real family with your adopted one.

---

The Library​

The turning into the revine was entirely nondescript. Gentle rolling hills and the slightest dip. It was subtle, but bit only did it obscure the riders from anyone nearby, but the dried up revine was also well hidden.

"Nearly there," Raigryn announced. There was no path, so the horses had to tread carefully as the route wound downwards.

They could have easily gone past the door without seeing it. Set just back into the side of the hill the circular door was painted a deep, mossy green. It looks like an oversized entry to the home if a halfling, rather and a library.

Raigryn dismounted. He held the reins tight in his hand as he approached and knocked. They had to wait for some time before the door slowly swung outwards.

There was a depth of shadow ahead. The kind that managed to suggest a great deal it space beyond. The weak light of one candle was all there seemed to be beyond the empty patch of space touched by the sun's rays.

A silhouette drew up before them, keeping from the light. A roughly humanoid form, but towering over any human. Clearly they would have had to duck to come through the door.

The shape of an angular head resolved itself, then a toothy maw. What came below was obscured with heavy robes, seemingly formless but ever shifting.

There was a quiet muttering in a language almost no one spoke any more.

"Raigryn," said the harsh, female voice. From that dark mass of robes emerged two flexible limbs. They were tentacles. Both were pointed towards his chest.

"You are late with your return."

 

[Fife]

The ride to the mysterious library was many things. Least of all it was fraught with backward glances as Fife looked back over her shoulder to the path behind them. Cautious to a fault, she wasn't much reassured that she never saw anything. And yet was? After a while, she told herself that she was just being paranoid.

Secondly, the ride was… boring. From what little he had said, she was expecting something grandiose hidden in plain sight. But they turned into a mostly obscured ravine. It was like so much other parts of the terrain, unspectacular. Fife read her book, which added a lot of other things, but the daytime trek was unremarkable at best.

And then there was the third thing: the anticipation. Fife was riding high on it, her curiosity roused and on its toes as they descended into the earth. Then, out of nowhere and with no warning, they were there.

The door was so simple -- not at all what she had expected. Not that she was disappointed by that. Clutching the book tight to her chest and close on Raigryn's elbow, she peered around at the door as he knocked. And waited. And waited a little more. Fife glanced up at him nervously, only to startle when the door began to open. She craned her neck to see past into the depths of the library.

At least, she was trying to see beyond until the librarian emerged. She kept to the shadows, the details of her face and body obscured by darkness and garment. It certainly added to her mystery.

Fife reminded herself not to stare as she finally revealed more aspects of herself, but she was almost wriggling under the robe! And a tentacle? Grasping for her manners, Fife rounded up her senses and as much courage as she held the book against her. She finally understood Raigryn's cryptic remarks, which hadn't really prepared her and yet had.

Unwrapping her arms, Fife stepped up beside Raigryn and held out the book. She signed with her other hand.

Sorry. I read slow. She cast a glance up at Raigryn, uncertain if his friend knew Idemni or not. Thankfully she had a good translator.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Bralanese sign? A variety? Slow? But what is slow?" rattled off the librarian. She kept herself put of the light, whilst managing to loom forwards. It was almost as if she drew the shadows with her.

"It's the idemni silent way," Raigryn explained. His voice was calm, but Fife would feel a flutter of his own nerves.

"Fife is apologising for being a slow reader, but really the delay is my fault for stopping off at Elbion along the way and-"

"Pah. Idemni. A young culture formed deliberately in a harsh environment to give warring sultans a supply of assassins. That was a variation of old Bralanese."

Two tentacles stretched out towards Fife, hovering before her chest and waiting for her to hold out the book.