Private Tales Sinking Feeling

[Arwyl Minras]

​

Arwyl had a particularly pleasant beer, half drained, on the table in front of him. They were away from their new home, but it was a pleasant respite to enjoy some food cooked by others and some proper beer.

There were lots of things he had not considered in establishing their hidden settlement. The need for trade to keep running was one. They were no longer a band of bandits on the move, so they needed things provided by others. Right now they could keep this quiet, but at some point there would be a trail that gave away their existence. It was a problem for another day.

A force from Vel Anir had come to investigate the town they had sacked. They had found it abandoned, it's wooden wall completely removed and all goods of value and supplies taken. Their group had vanished without a trace and the slavers and their mine were gone. The walls were now mostly broken down and used to construct their houses in the woods.

"This is...a good beer," he declared. It was dark and dreary outside. A thick fog had surrounded the city. It was early evening and yet the candles were all lit. It could have been the middle of the night.

 

[Kaius]

It really was good beer. Kaius was on his fourth. It was nice to get away from planning and building, business of trading and tactics. It didn't happen very often, and he was determined that this time it wouldn't end in any bar fights, or freeing slaves. This time they simply deserved a rest, and so Kaius' spirits were high as he kicked back in front of the hearth out of the gathering fog.

Frankly, he couldn't remember a time where he'd felt such contentment. Arwyl was alive and well, and he was settling - thus he'd upheld his oath. They were in the process of building a settlement, a home, for the first time in over twenty years and their purpose finally felt clear. And then there was Riley.

The alcohol was making him grin to himself as he rocked back in his chair.. "Aye. It is that." he rumbled in response and sighed deeply. "We should build a tavern like this. I'll stick it on Riz's agenda.." he snorted with a smirk.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Yes, yes we should!" Arwyl agreed easily. He frowned. "What do you need to brew beer?"

Outside the sound of hard footsteps on the cobblestones passed the windows. Someone went running past. Arwyl ignored it.

"It's got barely in it...water..." he lifted the mug and peered into it. There was no answer inside the mug.

 

[Kaius]

Kaius snorted with a shrug as he looked into his own beer. "Well so does soup don' it?.." he frowned, taking another long sip. "Don' taste like soup. We'll find a brewer..." he nodded, deciding the problem wasn't theirs to solve as he drank down the tankard's remnants and slamming the empty vessel back onto the table.

They were in new surroundings, and so there was nothing to suggest that the people rushing by outside wasn't entirely normal, and so he too ignored it. A few of the other patrons however quieted, and some got up to look out of the windows or step outside. It was the cool breeze that disturbed the flames in the heart that caused him to look toward the door and take notice of the change in atmosphere.

He frowned, drawing the back of his wrist across his lips as he sat himself back up. "Fucks up with them?.."

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Dunno," went Arwyl.

If he'd had a few more beers he would have shouted: the fuck is up with you lot?

"How do you think we ask a brewer how to make beer without seeming like we're trying to steal their recipe? Oh! Ignorant elves?".

It was a routine they had played before. Pretending to not speak the human trade tongue well and acting as 'foreign' and naive as possible often had humans letting their guard down. Their sense of self superiority could be staggering.

A shadow flitter past the semi-opaque glass. Those watching it flinched.

 

[Kaius]

Kai's cheeks dimpled as he grinned with a slap slap on the table with his hand. "Ignorant elves. Haven't done that one in a while." he mused, his gaze distant in reminiscence as he scratched at his beard.

"Y'remember that time we convinced Riz to wear that dress and bonnet an--" he paused, catching the shadow in his peripheral and the low murmur of worriment dragged his attention back to those gathered at the windows. Some were barring the doors.

Kaius rubbed at his face, trying to sober himself with a huff at the effort. So much for a few quiet beers. "Oi - what's goin on?!" he called over to the group with a roll of his shoulders and a lazy growl in frustration.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"I hope it's a fight," said Arwyl.

"One that doesn't involve us for a change," he added more quietly.

"You haven't heard?" one of them asked, apparently shocked by their ignorance.

"Just don't go out at night unless you're in a group!" another decided to add.

 

[Kaius]

Kaius gave a quiet snort at Arwyl's words and had to bob his head. That would be a nice change, indeed. Still he couldn't help but be curious at the answers and advice that floated over from the group.

"We ent from here." he answered grumpily. "What's out there?" he asked again, his voice a tired demand that said he hated to repeat himself.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Don't know."

One of the men, who walked unsteadily, turned towards them and sat down. He sat down heavily, and slammed his mug down, spilling suds onto their table.

Arwyl tensed. At first he thought ht was an aggressive show, but he realised the man was so drunk he could barely stand. He looked down as if the mug itself had betrayed him.

"I'm David..."

"Nice to meet you David," Arwyl replied, grinning at Kaius out of the corner of his mouth.

"Folk been going at night. A scream, a shout. Never find em. This fog...ev'ry nigh' and now most of the day too."

 

[Kaius]

Kaius stroked at his chin nonchalantly as he observed the man who joined them, returning Arwyl's grin with a half-smirk of his own.

As he listened to the man's drunken ramblings he turned his gaze back toward the window, and sure enough, a shadow rushed by, causing those who'd been watching to shriek back. Kaius stood and gripped his axe.

"Now you just have me curious..." he rumbled and looked down at Arwyl with a quirk in his brow.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Are you sure..." asked Arwyl slowly, leaning over the table, "...that people are not running away from shadows in these mists and some of them right into the river?"

He was curious too. There was something in the atmosphere of the inn which he couldn't ignore. They were genuinely nervous of heading out into he mists.

Having met an ancient forest creature that had nearly killed himself and Riley for daring to pass through its lair should have been a lesson. Arwyl did not learn from his mistakes quickly.

"We should go and see!"

 

[Kaius]

They shouldn't 'go and see', they really shouldn't. They should remain here in the tavern, enjoying the warmth and the beer, and not go hunting shadows.

"Aye, lets go."

But fuck it. He'd had a few beers already and would make the wrong decision for a change. The man at the table rambled on about them being crazy and getting themselves taken, but Kaius rolled his shoulders as he strode toward the door, weapon in hand as he moved people aside, lifted the latch, and stepped out into the dark, eerie silence of the street to squint through the thick mist in search of those shadows.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Well it seems we have discovered some mist," Arwyl chuckled.

A handful of strides from the tavern and all he could see was the ground before his feet, Kaius' shadow and the outline of what he assumed were buildings in the distance. Being on his feet reminded him that he was more than a little drunk.

His world turned upside down. Arwyl gave a cry of surprise before realising he had simply tripped.

"Ouch."

Arwyl realised what he had tripped over.

"Oh fuck."

Two bodies. Propped up back to back as if they had been sitting together. Pale and quite dead.

 

[Kaius]

The sound of Arwyl's cry had him whipping around, his axe raised and ready to cleave a skull. Perhaps he was a little jumpy. He could barely see a foot in front of him as he moved toward Arwyl, about to chuckle about him not handling his alcohol before his gaze settled on the two corpses.

He reached out a hand to pull the prince back to his feet before dropping to a knee to examine them.. "I think.. We should go back to the tavern.." he murmured quietly, and quickly shot back to his feet as a shadow rushed passed them. He stepped up to Arwyl, pressing his back to his.

"Why don't you ever listen?.." he muttered.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Listen?" Arwyl asked. His eyes barely traced the shape as it moved.

"This was your idea!" he protested. Arwyl wasn't even sure whose idea it had been now. It seemed it had been a bad one.

"Come on then!" Arwyl called to the mists, "whatever the fuck you are."

Something hissed back. A longsword of spirit glass formed in Arwyl's hand.

 

[Kaius]

"My idea?! I.." he paused, having forgotten who's idea it was too. He simply grunted and shrugged it off before grimacing at Arwyl's goading.

"Well I'm pretty sure that's a fucking worse idea - and that one was yours." he murmured, staying close to the prince as he squeezed his axe in his palm, turning to peer into the mists. Another shadow darted past them, and by the time he'd turned toward it, it was gone, and another rushed past behind them. His axe swung and cleaved through thin air, and his shoulders rolled in annoyance.

"The fuck are these things?"

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Oi, what are you all?" Arwyl called out.

Whatever was out there knew where they were so there seemed no harm - to his beer addled brain - in asking directly. There was no reply. Which came as no surprise.

"Fuck which way was the inn? Do we make a break for it?"

Another shadow flitting past. They were not particularly brave. Not yet.

 

[Kaius]

Kaius cast a side glance to Arwyl and shook his head. "Y'think they're just going to answer you?" he sniggered with a growl in frustration.

He swung his axe as another shadow passed him, this time close enough for him to feel the brush of icy air against his arm, but it was gone before he could strike.

"They're circling us.." he murmured and turned, his gaze narrowing as he tried to find the inn. It couldn't have been far, but it might have been five feet away from him and he wouldn't have seen it in this fog. A scream sounded not too far away.

"We need to move. Run....Carefully."

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Run carefully. It made no sense to his drunk mind. He went with a jog. The spirit glass blade barely weighed anything. It was easy to keep it held aloft as they ran.

A shape materialised ahead of him. Arwyl didn't even check if it was just another person lost in the mist before swinging.

His swing came to an abrupt halt. The bruising grip around his wrist held him fast.

"Fuck."

Arwyl formed another blade in his left hand and thrust it forwards. The blade cut right through the gut of his attacker.

It wailed and hissed and kept its grip on his wrist. It drew back its lips and revealed the sharp, bloodied teeth.

"Double fuck."

 

[Kaius]

Kaius had stumbled over something that felt like another body and decided not to look. It left him a few paces behind Arwyl by the time he heard the Prince curse and he looked up, only vaguely able to discern the figures in the mist.

"Fuck." he repeated and shoved himself to his feet, he lifted his axe and threw it swiftly, aiming to cleave at the creature's skull.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

Arwyl felt the shock of the impact. The vampire's grip on his wrist went slack. Blood trickled down its face as it slowly collapsed.

"Fucking horrible creatures," he spat.

The band has come across one in the woods once, gnawing on a deer. Arwyl let the spirit glass in his left hand dissipate. He grabbed Kaius' axe, twisted and yanked it out of the vampire's skull.

Individually they might not have seemed too dangerous, but in numbers and with the cover of the mists they were in trouble.

 

[Kaius]

Kai's skin crawled and he was unable to suppress the shudder that raced down his spine, nor the cold sweat that followed. He squinted down at the creature with a sneer in agreement as he retrieved his axe from Arwyl, nudging him.

"Get a wall at our backs, then we only need to worry about what's ahead. We'll follow it to whatever door comes first." he spoke quietly, not that it'd make a difference, the fuckers' ears were about as fine tuned as the elves, if not more so.

"Go." he shoved insistently, as though he'd already sensed the creature that now gripped the back of his collar, and dragged him into the mist.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Kaius!" Arwyl cried out.

Turning about sharply he reduced the length of his spirit glass blade to a knife. Up close it would be more useful to stab around Kaius.

He caught sight of the other monster a moment before it tackled him to the ground.

"Fucking, bastard, things..." He grunted as he struggled. It's grip was like iron and it hissed and spat as it tried to bite him.

 

[Kaius]

Claws bit into his arms, his shoulders, his back as he fought the creature that dragged him with far more strength than it had any right to have. He growled and grunted as he thrashed before finally managing to cleave off an arm, and then the skull. Cold blood sprayed his face and he spit and wiped at it with a curse under his breath as he pulled himself to his feet.

He spun on his heels and turned to jog back in the direction he'd been dragged. "Arwyl!... Fuck." He couldn't see anything. He could hear the struggle, and tried to follow the sound as another creature took him off of his feet again only to be met with a dagger in the eye.

"Arwyl!" he yelled, his voice panicked.

 

[Arwyl Minras]

"Over....here..." Arwyl grunted. He was too short of breath to cry out properly.

Getting bitten and then escaping would be worse than death. Even if the frantic scramble he knew he would compromise his position and risk death over letting the thing sink it's fangs in.

Wretched creature. It was beyond thought now. He managed to get his knees between them to keep its jaws at bay. It gave the vampire room to reach down and apply that grip of iron around his neck.

"Fu..."