Private Tales Something Amiss

[Kaska]

Well if such a woman existed, Kaska would have believed it was Lia. Too much like her father, really.

She shook her head and let them fall back into their silence, waiting out the morning. That would be the last real conversation Lia would get from the woman, the trip falling back into silence. And it continued that way, Kaska growing more and more uncomfortable as the days melted by and they grew closer to the hold.

She shifted uncomfortably as the Keep peaked through the trees and fog up ahead. Weeks of careful travel had left the two woman unmolested. The peace was welcomed after the ordeal, but Kaska knew that soon she would have a much more pressing issue to worry over.

Her future as a ranger.

As they had reached the last mile of their journey, Kaska knew she should be thrilled. She wanted to vomit. She'd gladly face the Lich a hundred times over than be sent back to her father, escort and report in hand. The approached the large, double doors, the guards hailing them from the window up above.

"Rangers at the gate!"

The doors groaned and creaked open for them. Kaska hesitated, then urged her horse forward, her face stone.

 

[Lia]

Ared'hol, the Green Keep as it was known by most Rangers. Supposedly the Fortress had been built thousands of years ago by a race of Elves that had, at the time, inhabited The Allir Reaches. Lia almost half believed it as she looked upon the great walls, all of them covered in bright green spindly vines.

She had never seen the Fortress itself before, only in drawing and depictions. The Green Keep was supposedly the greatest of the Three Ranger Fortresses, and now that she saw it Lia couldn't help but agree. She gaped as the gates fell open before them.

Ared'hol was not the home of the Commander of the Rangers, he stayed in Alliria, but it was in many ways the center of power for the organization. Many of the best and brightest spent their time within the Green Keep, either training or preparing for expeditions beyond the Spine.

"Kiva." She swore quietly as they rode into the fortress itself.

In the back of her head, she knew that if she ever took control of the Rangers, if she ever became the Commander...this was where she would take her seat.

Caught up in a bit of wonder, Lia didn't even notice the three Rangers standing in the middle of the square. All of them wore knots of rank on their shoulders, the one in the middle holding the most out of them all. He cleared his throat expectantly, pulling her attention in an instant. "We have it."

She said quickly.

 

[Kaska]

The fort did not hold the same pull over Kaska, the woman having seen this location once herself as a teen. The overbearing structures felt like they were going to fall in on her, crush her. Suffocate her. Stab her with a thousand needles a thousand times. She clutched her fingers into a fist to stop their shaking, but it was all she could do to stop herself from running.

She didn't want to do this.

"Major Riles," she said around the lump in her throat, nodding her head to one of her father's colleges, whom she knew.

"Ranger Kaska, Seargent Lia. You're over a week late. Explain yourselves."

Kaska swallowed hard, sufficiently pale. "I-" her words left her. Her head dipped down, eyes closing in outward shame.

 

[Lia]

"We were attacked by a Lich." Lia's tone was as even as it always was, her face stone.

Perhaps it was because that was just her resting face, or perhaps it was because what everyone was used to, but no one even seemed phased by what she'd said. In one smooth motion Lia pulled herself from the saddle and landed on the ground, her armor giving off a slight clink.

"He used some sort of magic to disable Kiskla and managed to get the bracelet." Her voice remained that same still tone, even as she shuffled the facts of what happened. "We retrieved it, though the Lich got away."

Shock dawned on the three men's faces.

One of them muttered something under his breath, the other two gave each other worried glanced.

 

[Kaska]

Shock resonated through Kaska, jolting through her limbs. Her eyes snapped open, going to the back of Lia's head, but she was present enough not to gape or give away any other ticks that Lia's tale was new to her.

It was though. It wasn't the truth. Where were all the bad parts? Her mistakes? Her drugging the woman? She watched on in contained disbelief as Lia explained away the events, protecting her from prosecution.

"A Lich," Major Riles repeated, experiencing his own form of disbelief. "And you're here. And whole, both of you, with the bracelet? How did you do it?" They were, after all, just Rangers. Not Templars. By all means two non-magical humans should not have been able to go up against a Lich and survive to tell the tail. Yet here were two of his subordinates, a Sergeant with some potential and Kaska, alive and well with their spoils.

"It was Lia," Kaska croaked, regaining her senses enough to help cover Lia's ass now as she had put it on the line. "She rescued me. It was her that dealt with the Lich." She looked to the back of the woman's head, not short of gratitude as she said, "It is because of her that I'm alive and the bracelet is here."

Oh god, was she really gonna help the woman rank up?

Fuck. She was.

 

[Lia]

Lia kept that same stony expression, even as Kaska threw all of the glory her way. The objective now was not to claim she was the greatest, but simply get the story straight enough that no one was going to ask any questions.

She did not like lying, not at all, but Kaska had earned a small amount of reprieve. Over the last few weeks of their travel together the girl had acted contrite as could be, and Lia had thought that perhaps whatever torture she endured with the Lich was enough to settle her.

At least for a short while. "I cut off the Lich's arm, though I doubt that will hinder him much."

The Sergeant bulldozed her way over Kaska's praise, deciding that it was best not to linger on herself. Instead she moved to the threat that was still at hand.

"We suspect he has a Master." The other Rangers frowned. "Someone who knew about the bracelet before it was sent."

Even with Kaska's first mistake, someone had to have known about the Bracelet before hand. That was another component to why she'd lied. Kaska might have messed up, but there was something more to this that was the true danger.

The Ranger's ahead of her nodded.

"Come inside, we must discuss this further."​

 

[Kaska]

Kaska squirmed in the office chair, casting a questioning side-glance at Lia. Why did she do it? Why did Lia lie for her like that?

They hated each other.

They still hated each other... right?

She had been too caught up in the journey to the fortress to think much about the person she had been riding with. They had spent well over a month together, and in the last two weeks they had barely exchanged words. But Lia had covered for her. Why?

"Tell me again what happened?" Major Riles asked. He sat before them on the other side of his desk, his office large and befitting his station. The two other high ranking officers from the courtyard, plus one more, also stood and sat around the room. The tale of the Lich was something that had to be heard by more than one prominent member, because if it was true ... it didn't bode well. And it didn't make sense at all.

Now that she had the freedom to breathe again, Kaska was realizing that danger hadn't truly passed. She wasn't going to be kicked out ...but the job wasn't over. The Lich was still out there, its purpose unknown.

"The Lich has a master," Kaska told them simply, conveniently cutting over all the details Major Riles was trying to get out of them for the records.

 

[Lia]

Lia glanced at Kaska disapprovingly, and then quickly recounted the entire story once more...well, the altered version that she had created in the courtyard. It left out only a few details, those that painted Kaska in a more than negative light, but it was enough for what they wanted.

"We then rode through the White Wood to get here." Lia finished simply, her face remaining that impassive stoic stone that it almost always was.

Major Riles nodded slowly, almost as if he were trying to puzzle some things through. Lia wondered for a brief moment whether or not he knew more about the Lich than she did, though the idea of that was silly beyond all measure. A lich was something that wouldn't have been allowed to just run free.

"As Kaska said, it must have a Master." She frowned for a brief second. "They were headed North after taking the bracelet...but I couldn't figure out why."

For a second the three Rangers stayed quiet, and then one to the left of Riles spoke. His name was Bassar, Lia knew him from the academy.

"There are a number of abandoned Fortresses all along the Sayve, left over from a time when wars with the nomads of the Steppe were common."​

Lia frowned, but slowly nodded in understanding. An abandoned Fortress seemed fitting enough.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska raised a brow and looked around the room, observing the interactions between the men. "...but this isn't news to you, is it?" She sat up in her seat, her brows slowly furrowing in accusation. "This Lich has been sighted before. Hasn't it?"

Major Riles went tight lipped. It was the man to his right that begrudgingly spoke. "In passing. But we did not expect it to complicate this mission." They had been very good at keeping this inside the ranks. He turned to give his comrades a puzzled look, while Kaska glanced at Lia, her brows pulling together.

That was a lie. Why would they lie about that? For the briefest moment, she wondered if Lia had also known more than she had let on. Kaska discarded the thought. No. There wasn't much she could say about the woman, but she knew she could trust her to not jeopardize the mission with something like that. Lia had been oblivious of the threat as she had.

"Well do you know who it belongs to?" Kaska asked, a touch forceful in her tone.

"No more than you do, Ranger," Riles replied, the title putting her right back in her place.

 

[Lia]

Lia leaned forward slightly, letting her sword dance around a bit in her lap as she did so. Consternation crossed her features and she wondered briefly just how much the other Rangers had known.

It would have been good to know about, though she doubted that they had believed there was any real danger from the Lich. Otherwise they would have mentioned it to her. The Bracelet was important after all, why knowingly put it in danger if you didn't have to?

"We need to go after it." Lia's voice was firm, though her statement received a chuckle from one of the other Rangers.

"Well. Up until now we haven't been able to find it. Plus something like that is da-"​

Lia cut the man off, knowing it was...dangerous to do so, but doing it anyway. "Give me twelve other Rangers and a Siruk warhound. I can find the thing and kill it."

The commanding Rangers looked at each other almost in unison.

 

[Kaska]

Well, their looks at each other seemed to say. She's gotten it this far. It was almost convincing to think she could do it again.

They considered the woman before them for a moment, taking in her track record and that stubborn tilt to her chin. The man to the right caved with a small nod, then the man to the left. Major Riles raised a brow at her, folding his hands in front of himself. "I'll give you one chance. Don't push it too far," he warned her. "Don't take unnecessary risks. If you can do it, do it. But until we know the root of this, won't have you disappearing off in the those mountains. I want you reporting back here with all twelve rangers in ninety days time, you understand?"

Kaska blinked, muted by the sight of Lia demanding a mission ... and getting it.

 

[Lia]

Lia nodded firmly. "It will be so."

She had confidence in the fact that she could do this, more so than she thought she would have had at the moment. The Lich had practically already beaten her once...or rather beaten Kaska once, but it wasn't much different in her eyes.

It was still something to overcome.

"I would like to ask for volunteers." Lia said with a frown. "Or at least tell those Rangers coming with me what they might face."

A lich was far more dangerous than the other enemies Rangers faced.

 

[Kaska]

She got a curious look at that, but after a moment, a nod of approval. "We will assign you the men. But you may have your briefing once you have set out." And with that, the men began to straighten and shuffle, closing books and putting down pens.

"A week from tomorrow, then. Recover. Ready yourself." His eyes skirted to Kaska, taking her previous paleness as a sign of something else. "See a physician if needed." The girl flushed red.

"You're dismissed."

Kaska stood, a little stiff at that as she walked out. She reeled on Lia once they were alone in the hall.

"What was that?" She half accused, taken completely aback.

 

[Lia]

"I am finishing the mission." She very likely could have asked for a promotion and gotten it, but instead she'd asked for another mission.

Lia wasn't entirely sure if that was wise, but the Lich needed to be taken care of. She felt that responsibility fell to her in the end, though why...she couldn't really say. Perhaps because it had nearly caused her to fail, or perhaps it was simply because she knew that killing it would let her rise even further.

Either way, she intended on finishing this.

"I will use the week to research Liches." She said with a slight frown, running a hand through her hair and removing the needles within the bun. "Hopefully find a way to kill it."

Without magic anyway.

 

[Kaska]

"Are you crazy? We barely survived it last time, you're going to get yourself killed!" Kaska snapped, her nostrils flaring. What the hell was with this woman? Lying to protect her yet tossing herself back into danger at the slightest inkling.

"You're going too hard again. Just. Let them deal with this, you're over your head." There wasn't condescension in her tone, just anger, a slight edge of panic in the way her nose kept flaring.

 

[Lia]

Lia took a step forward, this time her face contorting into something very near to anger. "I'm in over my head?"

Her voice was tinged with a seething anger, eyes set on Kaska like a blaze ripping through a city. She kept her tone low though, ensuring that anyone around them either would not hear or would have to get closer to eavesdrop. She was not foolish enough to give them away now.

"I am not the one that was captured." She hissed. "I did not need to be rescued."

The reminder would likely sting, but Lia had covered for the girl, had given her a life line, and this is how she was repaid? That did not sit well with her. "I will kill this thing and find out who, or what, it serves."

Her lips thinned as she pointed towards the door. "They already knew, and they did nothing. So I will."

That last line was truly telling of why she was so mad. More than Kaska's words.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska's features hardened at the sting, Lia's words cutting to the quick. This was quickly dismissed by the woman's next words, the insinuation making Kaska pause.

So they both suspected the same thing of their superiors, that was good to know. But that wasn't what was worth addressing here, not as much as stopping the dumb privileged girl from getting killed by magic

"You don't know the first thing about Liches," Kaska hissed, stepping forward to bare down over Lia. "You don't have a speck of magic in you, you aren't built to deal with mages; you disabled him through a sword alone. And only because I was taking the brunt of his magic. Which is a prospect you couldn't even begin to fathom! You can't stop it. You can't combat it. The moment it touches you there. Is. No. Sword lifting," she snapped, Lia's anger matched by her own. Why was she so angry? She couldn't answer. But she burned with the impassioned need to stop the woman. The memory of the Lich laughing over her as she thrashed at the torture was seared well and true into her mind.

"You're being foolish," she admonished, trying to implore the woman to hear her. "You can't take the promotion for saving my ass if you just end up dead, think it through."

 

[Lia]

"I have a week to figure it out." Lia said simply, deciding that arguing further wasn't going to do much of anything at all.

Without another word the Ranger turned on her heel and began to walk away.

She knew that she was not a match for the Lich, knew that this task was going to be difficult. She was no Templar, and her knowledge in the magical arts was...lacking to say the least. Despite that though, she didn't feel scared. She didn't even feel the slightest bit of apprehension.

Lia had become a Ranger to protect the people of the Reach, to help Alliria, and to rise through the ranks. What better way to do all three than this mission? To kill the Lich and it's master?

She could think of none, so she ignored Kaska's fuming form and headed directly towards the Archives.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska watched her go, utterly flabbergasted.



Until two days later, Kaska walked up from behind her at the archives, her familiar canter still marked by the heavy thud of her boots. However, she was armorless. And holding books. She kicked out the chair across from Lia and let them 'thump' solidly against the thick table.

"Humph." She sat down, acting almost indignant and at the very least haughty as she cracked open a book and began to skim it.

 

[Lia]

Lia didn't say anything when Kaska joined her, though a hint of a smile touched her lips.

She had spent almost every waking moment since their argument in the archives, reading book after book and trying to find what little information there was. It was a difficult task, and for her even more so. She read a dozen accounts of different Rangers who had run into liches.

Some of them were are bare as could be while others held details, though none actually stated how the Lich was Killed. The only one that did say how was by a Ranger who happened to be a mage, and his advice was next to useless considering no current Rangers were mages.

It was only a day after Kaska that Lia found it. She tapped the book hurriedly in excitement, her lungs agasp for breath. "I think...I think I found it!"

The woman practically burst with glee.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska perked, pulling out of the dull pages of the heavy volume and leaning across the table to catch a glance. "You did? Where?" She had helped Lia in her search, silent but hard working as she bookmarked pages with references that could be useful to revisit, and otherwise compiled an index of all mentions found.

She even fetched them dinner.

Well. She fetched to have it fetched for them.

Philp totally had a crush on her.

She pushed a candle closer to Lia, catching her hair to stop it from falling into the flames.

 

[Lia]

"Here." She pointed to the book. "An account my Ser Rodger Fethean."

Lia pronounced the name hard, clearly not the way it was supposed to be said.

"He encountered a Lich within the Falwood, apparently a former Elf that had ingrained itself in the land somehow." She sounded more than pleased at actually having found this piece of information, a smile touching her lips as she quickly continued on with the story.

"He managed to kill it." She tapped the book again. "With a sword."

A wide smile touched her face. "It was a holy weapon, passed through his family."

 

[Kaska]

"Ser Rodger what?" Kaska repeated, kicking back her chair and resorting to walking to Lia's side for the best view. "Aaaah. Fetheeean, got it. Why does that name sound familiar?" She asked, reaching out and dragging a book left open on the edge of the table over to them.

"Fethean, Fethean, Fethean." She began to quickly skim pages-- a roster accounting for the last decade of rangers in and out of service. She frowned and closed it, pulling forward another and repeating the process. Four books later, she pointed eagerly at a place on a page. "Here! Fethean, served from ... fifty years ago?" She frowned, looking up to Lia. "He's already dead." There went the prospect of a live lead. But at least they had one at all.

 

[Lia]

Dead? So they wouldn't be asking him any questions...nor would they be asking to use his sword any time soon. It was an unfortunate fact really, something like that would have been handy for more than just killing Liches.

Lia frowned for a moment, rapping her knuckles against the table for a moment as she thought. "We need a holy weapon."

The Ranger was thinking out loud now, considering where they could get such a thing. Her lips thinned for a moment and she glanced over at Kaska. Her face went completely blank for a moment, and she cleared her throat as she asked her next question.

"Does the book say where he's buried?" Her voice was entirely even.

It was the only thing she could think of.

 

[Kaska]

"Just.... states his service," Kaska reported, skimming over what bare details were there. "None of his-" She blinked, eyes snapping to her as comprehension fell into her lap like a brick.

"Lia, no," she chastised, amusement entering her voice. "No, we couldn't." She failed to stop a grin from taking over the corner of her lips, a spark entering her weary demeanor.

"...I do know how to find out," she offered carefully, in a manner in which promised Lia there would be broken rules involved.