Private Tales Something Amiss

[Lia]

"No." Another thing that was wrong.

She didn't understand. They had been so careful. No one had known about the mission, no one could have known. It didn't make any sense. How had this happened? What was that black powder?

Lia's head spun with a thousand questions, and every single of them seemed to make her anger spike. Eventually she began to fidget, frowning.

"How did he know?" She asked, more herself than Kaska. "How did he know where it was?"

Even if he'd known they'd been carrying the bracelet, the location should have been a secret. Yet the man had known exactly where to cut, what to take. It didn't make any sense.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska shook her head, puzzling over it herself. "I don't know. Maybe the maker of her breast plate? Um- your family? Do they talk? Or-...Or." She shrugged, strapping in her arm. "Maybe it was just luck. I told you arriving like that would attract attention. Maybe it was all a lucky guess and he doesn't even know what he has."

She grabbed her water skin and took some healthy drafts, passing it over and going to pull what would have been today's breakfast if they had remained on the road out. Funny how that all worked out.

 

[Lia]

Lia shook her head. "No."

Her family didn't know about this mission, and the smith that had made her breastplate was a Ranger of some renown. Besides, that didn't really matter anyway. None of them would know all the details nor that she used that pocket.

"They wouldn't know about the pocket." Lia said simply. "I made that myself."

Her lips thinned. "No one following us should have known about it at all."

She took a draught from the water-skin, her face twisting.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska looked grim, splitting the bread and handing that over as well. There was no space for their cattiness here, the failing of the mission would be just as bad for her as it would be for Lia.

"Luck, then." She shook her head, gnawing at the bread and speaking through her mouthful. "But I didn't speak to anyone last night. I read and occasionally tossed a sad glance at the door. How could he know where we are?My coin pouch is still here, why just you? Nothing's adding up," she concluded with a frustrated growl.

 

[Lia]

Her fingers drummed against her thigh. There was something else. It seemed to rest at the edge of her mind, some distant memory or thought that she couldn't quite recall.

"He was after the bracelet." That much was obvious of course. The man had gone for that and that alone, meaning he hadn't been interested in money or anything else. Her lips thinned for a second and slowly she shook her head. They had to capture him.

It was the only way they would get their answers.

The only way that they would be able to complete this mission at all. "Come on."

Lia said as she stood up and motioned towards Kaska. She was eager to get on with this journey, eager to get this man who had stolen from her.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska shoved the rest of the bread in her mouth and saddled up, the blanket discarded and left behind. "Hiya!" She kicked her horse off without further ado.

This was bad. Real bad. Her father was going to be furious. Beyond furious, and she didn't even know what that would look like. She had never pushed things this far before, but this was too far, far worse than a bad attitude or a clumsy mistake. She was inches away from failing a mission. A really. Really important.

That was enough to drove her forward in a single minded focus, on the same page with Lia on this one.

 

[Lia]

Lia had no idea how long they rode, no idea how long it took to find the tracks, but eventually she found them.

It was easy enough to follow truth be told, the man made no effort to hide his trail. Despite that it took them most of the day to reach their end-point, most of the day to find the man they were looking for.

It just so happened he wasn't in the state they were hoping.

As the sun began to set on the horizon Kaska and Lia rode upon a small estate. A manor house that was in such disrepair it was barely standing. Dozens of hoof prints lay within it's dusty courtyard, signs of an entire platoon of men having gathered here, though there was no sign of them now. "He must ha-"

Lia cut herself off as she slipped from her horse, intending to inspect the hoof-prints but spotting something moving within the manor. Her lips thinned and slowly she reached back to draw her sword.

The blade rang as it left it's scabbard, and slowly the Ranger stalked forward. Moving up the crooked and broken steps of the patio she saw the movement again, a brush of wind pulling a large wooden door closed. A gasp left her as she saw what was upon it, a man she recognized from the common room of the inn.

His face was twisted in horror, his body quite literally nailed to the door.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska slid off her horse, taking her bow and knocking it as she crept forward with Lia. She let Lia take the lead while she kept scanning their backs and the forest line around the house, her lips pressed into a tight line.

It worked well for them, their weapon preferences. Lia could deal with upfront threats while Kaska was equipped to pin someone down far away. There would be no need for that though, because as she turned to respond to Lia's gasp, she found the person they wanted was already pinned down anyway.

To the to the door.

And she knew him.

She heard something inside of her mind crack, like a gear clicking into place, reverberating through her as shock hit her in a nasty wave.

She fainted, tumbling right down those stairs and away from the guy she had fucked.

 

[Lia]

Lia stared at the body hanging from the door, bile climbing her throat as she realized what exactly it was that she was looking at.

At first she thought that it was just a cloak, pinned to the door and made to look as ominous as possible, but it was the blood that tipped her off. A pool of crimson had formed on the ground beneath, the look of horror on the mans face more than clear as to what had happened.

They had done this to him while still living. The bile in her throat seemed to force its way out just as she heard Kaska collapse behind her, a clatter of metal plates signalling her companion falling over. Lia half whirled around, swallowing throw-up and raising her weapon.

Relief came over her as she saw no attack coming, though it was brief in passing.

With two quick steps she walked back off the patio and jumped off the stairs, landing with a muted thud besides Kaska. Gently she slapped the woman across the face. "Wake up!"

She called, urging the woman back into life.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska stirred, groaning in simple protest over the new aches in her body. She was sheet pale, almost ashen looking, and her eyes felt too far away to lift for a moment. But she did, managing to look at her superior with no simple amount of confusion.

"...Ma'am?"

Understanding slammed into her, her face contorting in shock. She scrambled up, shaking her head and gaping at the form on the door.

"No,"she protested vehemently. "No, no, no, no, nooo..." it turned into a desperate plea, the woman realizing at once what all of this meant.

She turned away from them both, a shaky hand going to cover her mouth as she tried to bring herself back down. "No. Oh god, no. No, I'm sorry. No..." she whispered to no one.

Oh she had fucked up big time...

 

[Lia]

Lia looked down at Kaska, one hand still on her sword as an inquisitive look grew on her features. "What?"

She glanced back at the body.

"What is it?" Did she know the boy? Lia knew that they had seen him at the Inn, at least while they passed through the common room. The problem was she wasn't entirely sure whom Kaska had actually interacted with while she'd gone off drunkenly carousing.

Her eyes narrow.

"Do you know him?" An inkling began to form in her mind. A thought,her lips thinned and she stood up, looming over Kaska. "Kaska?'

 

[Kaska]

Kaska seem to shrink then, her shoulder's rounding in, her legs pulling up. She caught a sob in her throat and held it there, forbidding to let any more out.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, the only answer the woman got from her. But it was as good as a confession, the girl's mistake now obvious to them both. "I didn't-oh god." She stood up abruptly and back peddled from the woman and that house, a look of horror about her now. She braced for the explosion.

 

[Lia]

Lia stared at the girl. "Spit it out."

Her words were as stern as a mother speaking to her daughter, the tone mixed with disappointment and anger. Lia already knew what Kaska was about to tell her, knew what she was about to say.

It made her want to decapitate the girl.

"What's wrong?" Lia prompted her again.

They couldn't afford to stand around and blubber all day, they couldn't afford to just sit here. Whoever had done this to the man now had the bracelet, and Lia wasn't going to let them go.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska didn't answer for a long moment. If she didn't say anything, it couldn't be true. But Lia's gaze held long and true, and it squashed the girl into submission.

"I know him," she croaked, glancing once at him before outwardly blanching and looking away. It took her a long moment to find her next words, and when they did they were very hard to say. "... I slept with him that night. I don't remember- He must have known, he must have plied me, I-" she tried to explain herself, but there was no explaining away what she had done. She had toed the line too often, and this time, it had turned into a horrible mistake.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, earnest.

 

[Lia]

Lia turned around in disgust. Kaska didn't need to elaborate on what had happened, she could guess the details. The Sergeant had thought the girl would have a little bit of common sense, at least when it came to something like this, but apparently she had been sadly mistaken.

The sword she had been clutching to a white knuckle grip slowly returned to it's scabbard, no longer necessary. She could not punish Kaska now, no matter how much she wanted to. "Get up."

Lia still needed the girl.

She told the girl as she stalked back up the steps, and headed towards the body. Flies were already buzzing around the corpse, though it couldn't have been more than a few hours old at this point. The Ranger frowned slightly, inspecting the nails for a second and coming to a quick solution.

They were not natural, or rather, they had not been made for any proper purpose.

"Mage." She said quietly to herself, that same tone of disgust still in her tone.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska stood, shaky on her feet and even shakier inside her mind. Thoughts were not coalescing yet, but three facts were present.

One: She had destroyed the mission.
Two: She had slept with a now dead man.
Three: Her father was going to disown her.

Kaska squeezed her eyes closed, hating herself deeply in that moment. She took a deep breath, then opened them again, stepping forward.

"But an army?" She offered weakly, pointing out the disturbed ground. Her mind swirled for a force this big that would want something like that, and have mages.

There were quite a few options.

 

[Lia]

"I don't care." Lia said as she grabbed the head of one of the nails and jerked it free. There was a slight squish noise as she did so, the corpse sagging just a bit as she removed a small piece of what had been holding it in place.

The Ranger herself had absolutely no inclination towards magic. She had been tested in her chidlhood, but she had no affinity what so ever. That didn't mean however she had no knowledge of it. Her father had made sure she knew her stuff when it came to magic, and the Ranger's had taught her even more.

"We're going after them." Lia said as she turned the nail upside down, her fingers finding that same odd black powder upon it's surface. Though it was mixed with blood, it was still more than telling. "Can't let them have that bracelet."

No matter the cost.

Anger still simmered across the surface of her mind, rage she felt directly towards Kaska. For now however the mission took precedents, and if she was going to do this she needed the girl.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska didn't protest. In fact, she was quiet relieved by her reaction. She had been braced for so much worse, and to not be abandoned at a moment like this ... her gratitude shone in her face, the woman looking small and humble for once. She nodded, turning on her heels and moving right for the horses. She wordlessly brought them over, handing Lia her reigns with an odd sort of vulnerableness to her expression. Or perhaps it was guilt. Either way, there was no challenge or haughtiness to be found, the girl genuinely regretful of these events.

 

[Lia]

Lia ignored every emotion on Kaska's face, mostly because she refused to deal with any of that sort of thing until they have the bracelet bask. The girl could sulk and wind herself up, but Lia didn't care. All that mattered was getting the bracelet back.

"The nail is magic." She told Kaska.

It would be easy enough to track the small army that had been here. More people meant more of a mark left on the land, which both of them could trace easily enough. The concern came with the mage. She had no idea what sort he or she was, and it was entirely possible that they could somehow cloak their movements.

"Same sort that was used on our door." She grimaced. "Likely some sort of alchemy."

At least that was her guess. "We can track it if they use it again."

Tracing magic was difficult, mostly because in order to do so you had to know the type of magic being used, how it was being used, and sometimes even why it was being used. Luckily, they had the first piece already in the form of the nail. From there Lia could use what she'd been taught to find the mage they needed.

 

[Kaska]

All at once, Kaska seemed to pull herself back together. It was a bit of a nasty thing to see the insides of someone you have been attracted to. Even worse when it all means you've effectively cut down your career and family life in one fellow swoop.

Or in this case would it be 'fuck'?

She was hardening to it all, the weak display passing as she quickly accepted the abrupt change in her reality.

"Right then," she murmured, clearing her throat to banish the crackling there. "Give it to me, I'm skilled at that tracking. A group that big, they couldn't have gone far. We'll get them." I was an unspoken promise, the girl no longer going to grovel for forgiveness. She didn't want forgiveness, she just wanted to fix it and move on.

 

[Lia]

"Do you know the Runes?" They were something of course that every Ranger was taught.

Rune Magic was an art that had been forgotten by most, but the Rangers taught it to many of their initiates, at least a few simple spells. It was a way to aid them in certain situations. It took time, and most Rangers could not at all call themselves Rune Mages, but it was another tool in the proverbial belt.

She had no doubt that Kaska would have been taught the Runes, but right now she thought it unlikely the girl remembered much of anything she was taught.

Given what she'd already done.

If they wanted to track the mage in that party they would need the proper Rune and the Nail itself. Mess it up and they could end up destroying the only connection to their enemy that they had.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska wordlessly help out her hand, grim and determined. "More than you, or else you would have done it already. I made a mistake Lia, but Im not incompetent. Give it here."

She was right to assume Kaska knew the runes. And she had proved fairly proficient in them, testing out with a little bit of affinity for magic as a child.

 

[Lia]

Lia didn't say anything, she only unfurled her hand and offered the nail to Kaska.

Though she was confident in her ability in most things, Magic was not one of them. Though the Runes did not ostensibly require any form of magical gift on the part of the user one sitll needed to be comfortable in actually drawing whatever it was they were trying to do.

She remembered the rune, she could recalled it clearly in her head, but Lia's artistic abilities were about as proficient at her skill with a sowing needle. Which was to say not at all.

Still, this was why Lia hadn't wanted to send Kaska away in the first place. The girl was a resource to her, a way to get the bracelet back. At the end of this she would screech at the top of her lungs all she wanted, but for now she would at the very least remain civil.

As long as the girl showed she was a little contrite.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska took the nail, her jaw setting as she forbid herself to think of where it came from. She kept her back to the house and dropped her horses reigns, fulling expecting chestnut mare to mind his manners and stay right there with her.

Surprisingly, he did.

She let herself fall to her knees and shrug off her pack, studying the nail as she puzzled out the best rune for it. She quickly came to the same conclusion as Lia, but she went a step further and whispered a spell over it a speck of gunpower, to test its properties and verify her suspicion.

It erupted into small blue flame that flickered out just as fast. Kaska nodded grimly, balancing the nail on her knee as she pulled out her material.

She drew the rune with quick precision, and eerily the girl resembled Lia in that moment as she worked. There was no more fucking around. In any sense of the word.

The last flick was drawn and at once they would know Kaska was successful. The rune abruptly started to glow, fueled by the magic Kaska had unlocked. The nail jerked up out of her hand and started to tug back north the way they had come.

Kaska snatched it up, ignoring its attempts to drift away, and looked to Lia. "Back north we go."

 

[Lia]

North?

It didn't make any sense. Why did this first man head back towards Alliria and this band head north? There was nothing up there save for a few villages and burnt out manor housed from centuries past. It would have been better to go east or south, where some of the minor kingdoms still laid claim to territory. Her lips thinned for a moment and she considered.

The rune was not wrong, it could not be wrong, but things did not seem to make any sense at all. Who were these men? Why was there a mage with them? And why bother with killing this man in such a brutal fashion? There was no sense to it.

Lia frowned, glanced up at Kaska and then nodded.

There was no need for conversation, no need to dawdle. There was a mission to complete and from the hoof-prints in the ground it was obvious that their for had a head start on them. So without a words Lia clambered up Into her saddle and kicked her horse, sending the beast in a gallop down the road.