Private Tales The Blind Leading the Blind

[Talus]

Northern Falwood - Fort Arrel
Ayara Vagrand

Talus frowned slightly, looking down at the two backpacks situated in front of him. They were leather, each of them well crafted and stuffed to the brim with supplies for what was to be a two week mission.

The missions was ostensibly a rather simple one. With Vel Anir's recent expansions there was a concern the Elves would begin to stir as well. Members of the leading Houses of the city were not too keen on sending regular soldiers into the Falwood, and no graduated Dreadlord would take the task. So the missions had been given to Apprentices.

They were to head into the Falwood, observe two separate Elven cities, and then head back with the information they retrieved. Talus had no idea if the fear was valid or not, but he was not one to question orders when they were given.

He stared hard at the two backpacks. One of them belonged to him, the other...the other belonged to a girl he had only seen and never met.

At the Academy the Proctors enjoyed separating students into separate classes. This was mostly to keep them on their toes, preventing each of the Apprentices from actually learning too much about one another. Talus' class over the years had been whittled down to just him, Sierra, and Henry, but this girls' was still at half it's number.

That wasn't really a sign of anything, at least as the Academy went.

Still, it made him oddly nervous. He didn't like working with a stranger, and as he waited he couldn't help but wonder why it wasn't Sierra or Hal going with him. Did the Proctors have something planned? Was this a test? He didn't like it.

"What the hell is taking her anyway?" Talus said with a frown as he stared at the second pack.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

Talus

Ayara held little regard for the intricacies of the upper echelons of Dreadlord chain of command. She was a student, and thus that was the way -- She did as she was asked. She harbored no innate ill-will towards non-human races, though she also held no secretive love for them either. To Ayara, it was all the same, mortals that shared the same geography for a time. Some longer than others. Perhaps this perspective was shaped in part by her abilities to manipulate those beyond the veil, to understand that death itself was not quite as final as most assumed it to be. Though how one got to certain particular stages of after-life was a mystery for her to solve as she came to better understand the world around her.

For now the task at hand was rather mundane. Spy. That wasn't quite the wording used, but that was what it boiled down to in the broad stroke of things. She was to do so with another apprentice, something out of character for her. Most things she did alone, and that generally felt intentional -- Many did not understand nor agree with her methods of utilizing magic. It wasn't necromancy, and it certainly was not divine. Somewhere in the middle of all that was where she believed her abilities laid.

"I'm here." She called out, stepping through the archway that led to the staircase below where Talus was waiting. The sun's position in the sky indicated that it was just before midday. Clouds peppered the blue above, though the gold rays of light pierced them and cast a remarkable glow onto the ground. That glow highlighted the auburn of her hair while accenting both the lingering scar and clouded eye from her transgression several months prior. It wasn't something she could, nor bothered to attempt in hiding.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

 

[Talus]

The moment she arrived Talus tensed slightly, realizing that he probably shouldn't have said the words out loud . "That's alright."

He told her, trying to keep his face impassive.

Talus knew next to nothing about the girl, not even how she had acquired the scar on her face. Things like that weren't uncommon at the Academy, Talus himself had a large scar across his abdomen from a Proctor who had been a tad too overzealous in his punishment.

There was no telling if that was the same story for her or something else. A frown touched his face for a moment as he tried to read her. Realizing that he was coming up empty Talus simply decided to mentally shrug and just move forward.

This was the mission, there was no hanging that.

"Talus." He said by way of introduction.

He wished that he knew more about her, but asking directly wouldn't merit much. He would have to watch her carefully, study her. Eventually she would become like everyone else at the Academy; competition.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

Reaching the landing at the base of the staircase she gestured an acknowledgement of his name with a nod. One knee bent, and a hand reached for the bag at her feet. Hefting it over her shoulder she looked back at Talus and made the same, typical half-smile that held no sincerity in it whatsoever, but was one of social acceptance that she afforded to just about everyone.

"Ayara."

Her hand extended outwards, though not to shake Talus' own, but rather to indicate that she was ready to leave. The sun was already high, and fraternizing around the fort wasn't a quality she held. Over the next several days she presumed she would learn as much about her traveling partner as was necessary. After all, it was unlikely that they would see much of one another on any regular basis anyway.

 

[Talus]

Talus nodded his head, almost as if he confirmed the view that hed had of her.

Not talkative, at least not right off the bat. At the very least she wasn't like Luther, he was pretty sure if the girl turned out like that he would have strangled her the first chance he got.

He could deal with quiet at least.

Without another word to her he scooped up his pack and fell into step besides her. He did not try to speak to her, not at the beginning at least.

Their trek at the beginning didn't really present much of a challenge, the two Apprentices set out from the fort and headed into the Falwood. No one gave them any notice, no one even said a single word as they passed through the gate and headed out.

It was after three hours of walking that Talus first spoke. "What can you do?"

He asked simply, not expecting an answer but deciding it was important to know.

"If we end up in a fight I don't want to be blindsided." It was sound enough reasoning, and at least partially true.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

That frankly hadn't been the first conversation topic she had expected to broach with a fellow apprentice. Perhaps small talk about the assignment? Or something to the tune of what exactly they were supposed to be gathering as information on these Elven cities. No, instead the question of her ability was raised. And judging by the choice of words, it was as if he wanted to ensure she was not some kind of liability, or dead weight sent along.

Still, explaining what she could do was a bit of a complicated answer. At least, more so than saying I can throw fireballs. Quite honestly it was easier to demonstrate what she could do, rather than explain it. That, however, wasn't something she offered up as some kind of stage show for entertainment purposes, or to satisfy someone's curiosity.

Thus, an explanation would have to suffice for now, though surely no amount of explaining would answer the infinite questions that would likely follow, whether Talus chose to ask them or not.

"I can manipulate, call forward, summon, conjure, or otherwise command spirits and demons. I bind them to our realm, use them for the purpose they are needed, and then banish them back to their domain. Depending on the situation, those spirits could be of benevolent origin, or they may be demonic in nature. Though unsurprisingly, the ones more suited to fights are often demonic."

This was generally where she waited for the cautiously suspicious glare, though she continued walking along the path before them through the Falwood. Hopefully that answered his question as to whether or not he should expect to be blindsided if they got into a fight somewhere along this journey.

 

[Talus]

He blinked, having not quite expected such a fully informed answer. In his experience apprentices tried to keep as much information as they could to themselves. Paranoia was strong in them, and for her to divulge things so easily instantly made him suspicious.

Was she going to try and kill him at the end of this?

It wouldn't be the first time that a mission in the Falwood ended with the death of an Apprentice. The thought made him tense up, and he couldn't help but walk a little bit more stiffly. "Ah."

Talus answered.

"So a more supportive role." He supposed strategically it made sense as to why they were paired up now. Talus was one of the better swordsmen among the students of the Academy, and his own magic leant itself to close quarters combat. If they did end up fighting he would be in the thick of it and she would use whatever…summons she could to support him.

Made sense.

"We'll probably need it by the end." He offered by way of conversatione. "I don't think the Proctors realize how perceptive elven sentries can be."

It was a minutely provocative thing to say. Going against the Proctors, even with something like that, would not have been well received at the Academy. Yet he wanted to test her, gauge her reaction. Would she lash out at him? Agree?

It would inform a great many things.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

Her stride halted for only a moment, almost as if the cue of the twig snapping beneath her boot had called for the pause. "I wouldn't say that." Ayara disagreed. "I may not have the grace of an Elven archer, or the prowess of a champion swordsman, but my magic doesn't delegate me to the back of the line. I'm not some healer to tend your wounds." Her tone didn't take one of offense, but rather one of correction.

Demons, especially powerful ones were to be feared. Those with great power, let loose by arrogant mortals unfit to bind them, roamed the world. They caused destruction and suffering. A blight on the land.

Ayara looked around at the trees, though not expecting to find anything. Elves were good at not being seen when they didn't want to be. She shrugged, adjusted her bag, and continued onward. "Or perhaps they do, and they want to test our perception. Maybe this is their way of shaving ranks. I really don't know. It's not as if the loss of two apprentices would cripple them." Ayara had no illusion that she was less than important to the dreadlords, at least right now. Apprentices were plenty, and more would always follow.

 

[Talus]

"Noted." Talus said quietly to her first point, deciding that it would probably be best to let her decide her own place in combat.

Any assumption he made could land him in the grave.

"Possible." He said quietly, glancing at Ayara for a moment to try and gauge any reaction on her face. "But wasteful."

Not that such a thing was unheard of. There were even rumors of Proctors placing bets on missions like these. Seeing which Apprentices would make it back alive and which ones would never be heard from again. "More than half my class is already dead."

He commented dryly.

Four of them he'd slaughtered in this very forest, one they had set up for murder, and another had been killed atop the tower during a duel. Only he, Sierra, and Hal were left now.

His gaze swept upward towards the trees, quietly observing as they walked.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

"If half your class is already dead, then wasteful doesn't seem such a farfetched possibility now, does it?" She offered in response to his theorizing. Though the circumstances of their individual deaths she had no knowledge of.

Ayara wasn't quite a social network of information when it came to other apprentices.

"I was originally grouped with some necromancers, but, our methods and what exactly we do aren't quite the same." Necromancers brought the dead back to a tepid state of life, or communed with them, but ultimately these were truly lifeless husks with no will of their own. A field of magic that repulsed many.

Passing a look over at Talus she posed a question of her own, though perhaps more rhetorical than anything. "So what's your story? What can you do?"

She gestured towards his armor and sword at his side. "Other than the obvious."

 

[Talus]

Necromancy was not held in high regard even in Vel Anir. The practice was often thought of as evil, and raising the dead was a great Taboo. Of course that did not stop any Dreadlord from doing so, especially when it was so valuable on the field of battle.

Bringing back a dead soldier, even as a husk of himself, was something not many could overlook. When Ayara said she had been grouped with them he wasn't surprised, though her additional statement made him wonder just what the nuance of the magic was.

He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out. "It's...complicated."

None of the Proctors, nor Talus himself, had ever quite been able to figure out a way of explaining his magic. As far as they knew he was the first to have the ability, and thus it made qualifying it rather difficult.

"I...shift." He began, not quite sure if he really wanted to explain it all. "I, or a part of me, moves through a place that is our world but...not."

Talus frowned for a second, realizing that trying to explain it as academically as she had her own abilities was frustrating him. He was smart tactically, but when it came to this sort of thing he might as well have been eating rocks. "Just look."

The Apprentice said as he held up his arm. There was an odd vibration that rang through the appendage, and then suddenly a ghostly hand pulled free from his own. The ethereal hand lingered for a moment, closing into a fist, and then his own hand snapped upward at lightning speed to rejoin it in the same position.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

The look on her face when he both explained and demonstrated was one of dumbfounded. Ayara had no idea what she was looking at, or what he was doing, or what the purpose behind it was. To her it looked as though a part of him entered the veil where the spirits or demons she called from existed, or some in-between. She was hardly an expert, and if he couldn't quite understand his own ability, there was little chance she would be able to explain it.

"So what is it? An illusion? Two separate entities?" What exact purpose did it serve him?

Both of them it seemed had rather unique talents, though perhaps his was a bit more one of a kind.

Ayara at the very least knew of a handful of others able to perform the very same summonings as she, scarce as they were. Talus on the other hand seemed an anomaly. "I'm guessing it's helpful when swinging around that sword."

 

[Talus]

He shook his head. "Not an Illusion."

It was hard to explain.

"One of the Proctors said it was about another plain." He shrugged, as if not quite understanding what that meant.

"Mostly I just use it to move faster, dash around, let blades and arrows fall through me." He confirmed to her, having realized already that it was the least of what his abilities could do. "It's not teleporting or anything, but there's no wind, no air, nothing holding me back."

He paused for a moment, wondering if he should say more. Then he decided to divulge a small secret, if only to see if she would have some sort of perspective on it. "I can interact with people, things, their...spirit."

Talus did not really like to use that word, though it did seem to be the most accurate one. He remembered what he had done to that Elf during the executions in Sel Faena. How he had torn the womans essence from her and crushed it.

He wasn't sure if he could do the same again if he tried, but he'd experimented with inanimate objects since then. Things...did not always go as expected.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

"Peculiar." It was the only word that accurately described what she thought of the magic. She had known of other magics that augmented the physical abilities of the user, but this wasn't the same. Perhaps some kind of relative magic but nothing she had ever come across, though her experience was to say the least, limited.

Ayara ran a hand through the back of her hair, pausing midway to scratch.

"Every living thing has a spirit bound to this existence, bound to the body it lives within. What happens to that spirit after death is a question difficult to answer. Perhaps it carries over to the veil where people like me can manipulate them, or perhaps not. I can't really say for certain. My magic has no effect on the spirits existing within our own domain so I could not interact with yours."

The idea that he could was mildly unsettling, even for her.

"Though I am curious, what kind of interactions are you referring to?"

 

[Talus]

It made him oddly nervous how academic she seemed. Perhaps Ayara spent most of her time in the Archives, studying and learning rather than practicing with a sword.

Talus had never taken to reading books, mostly because the letters seemed to jump around and never end up as anything more than a jumbled mess. In his class Hal had always read the most, but even he didn't speak this way.

There was something...discomforting about it. "There were executions in Sel Faena."

Ayara would be no stranger to such things. Dreadlord Apprentices were often sent as executioners to various cities under the control of Vel Anir. It was to get them used to the idea of killing, hardening them for their eventuality.

"I tore a woman's...spirit from her body." He did not describe the circumstances as to why, his eyes going a bit hollow as he recounted the event. "An after effect, like with my hand, but her spirit did not return to her."

Because he had not let it.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

As they walked Ayara listened to Talus retell the story of what had happened is Sel Faena. Discomforting as it was to hear about, it was useful knowledge, particularly for her. It was not something she had witnessed, nor heard of happening before, but certainly felt plausible. If anyone were to believe and comprehend at least a portion of his story, she would be that person.

"I see." Rather than offer her own explanation as to the event she decided to ask what his thoughts were. "And what do you suppose happened with this woman's spirit as you wrested it? Did it vanish? Depart?" Ayara already knew what happened to the body. That wasn't in question. The body cannot be without the spirit.

That's what makes the undead.

Ayara wasn't certain as to the ramifications that could follow for such an act. There was no telling whether or not what Talus had done would ever come back to kick him. Perhaps nothing would come of it, or perhaps not. Only time would tell.

"I caution you to use restraint with that in the future."

 

[Talus]

"I crushed it." He answered in a hollow tone, no emotion marking his words at all.

In the moment he hadn't really considered what he was actually doing. He'd simply been reacting the crowd surging forward and Hal at his side. No other choice had been presented to him, none that would have seen him live without punishment anyway.

So he had simply ripped the woman's spirit from her body, and then crushed it. "It burst into a thousand pieces and faded."

His expression was rather grim, though he maintained the same hollow tone.

When she urged caution Talus shot her a brief gaze.

"I haven't been able to do it again." He said quietly. "Well not really. Once with a lamp, but it exploded shortly after."

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

"Oh." There was arguably no denying what had happened in that case. Ayara thought it best to reserve her opinion on the matter, however. That he hadn't been able to accomplish the deed a second time was also, likely, for the best. That was a volatile employment of magic, one she couldn't help but feel held consequences not yet seen.

Talus seemed hardly moved or concerned by it, which wasn't really a quality she expected to find in him, nor any other dreadlord, apprentice or not. Perhaps it was just that she was more reserved now that she had experienced her own rather magnificent failure that had cost her a bit more than pride.

"You might find it difficult to pull a spirit from a lamp." She said with some amusement. "Unless of course some entity decided for whatever reason to inhabit it."

 

[Talus]

He smiled for a moment. She was right in a way. Talus hadn't been able to pull a spirit from a lamp...or really any other inanimate object, but he'd been able to interact.

Those interactions did not always pan out the way that he thought they would, but something always happened when he tried. The Proctors had warned him against such things, but Talus had not yet learned the same lesson Ayara had.

He still had to make his own mistake. "Tell that to the candle I stole a soul from."

The young Apprentice quipped in an attempt at a joke.

Humor was not often found among the Apprentices, and when it was usually it was of the darker variety. Comedy was not the forte of any Dreadlord.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

The joke really was low hanging fruit. Too easy. Still, it was more conversation with another person than she typically had at the academy. Most of her conversations took place in her head, or with beings that did not share the same existence with her. So she afforded her traveling companion a short lived laugh as they walked onward through the dense forest before them.

"How did you lose half of your class?"

The question lingered from their earlier discussion, and curiosity was something that overwhelmed Ayara on a frequent basis. It was part of who she was, and why she had learned more academically than many other apprentices. It was also why she was a bit of a lousy duelist and mediocre archer.

"Accidents or missions?"

 

[Talus]

"Neither, both." Talus retorted, though the answer was about as conflicting as it could be.

He glanced upwards into the tree tops again, aware not to speak too loudly.

"The first time was here in the Falwood." He began to explain. "After a mission. Four of them decided that the rest of us were easy pickings."

A shrug rolled over his shoulder in answer to how that ended up. "One was the target of Igot Crane."

He had no idea if she would know the name. He had been an older boy, known for going after the more vulnerable female Apprentices, the son of one of the Archons and thus nearly untouchable.

"Decided that she was no ones prey." That wasn't true of course, he and his friends had framed Alloi for killing Igot, a plan that had worked out surprisingly well. "The Proctors took her away."

She was perhaps not dead, but they'd been told she was executed for murder.

Talus paused a moment, then slowly continued. "Luther died on the dueling tower."

It was the only one of his classmates that he had given her a name for, a mark of respect for his once friend. The Proctors enjoyed making them face one another atop the dueling tower, testing their abilities against one another. Luther had pushed his opponent too far, and Hal had taken his rage out on him the only way he could.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

It seemed to be the common tale. Apprentices vying for what little scraps of meaningless power they thought they could obtain by killing their perceived competition. It wasn't a tango Ayara had to contend much with, given her rather lack thereof when it came to a typical class. The necromancers had often tried to flex their magical prowess over one another by competing to see who could raise a stronger undead. That led to more than one occasion of apprentices getting in over their head.

Ayara did wonder though if Talus had that sort of inclination to see her in the ground before the end of their mission. There was hardly any question as to who was the superior fighter between the two. And despite her confidence in her magical abilities, a sword was infinitely faster in that regard.

"And so you killed one another." It wasn't a question, more of a confirmation. "To be the top of your class." The latter statement was more of an observation than anything. It was a pretty common goal among the apprentices. Kill or dominate those around you to prove you are worthy of not just becoming a dreadlord, but a recognized one.

 

[Talus]

He shrugged. "We never planned it that way."

Except with Alloi.

That one still stung a bit, but the story was not one he was going to share with Ayara. If Archon Crane learned the truth of what had happened to his bastard son it would very likely mean the end of Talus and the other two conspirators.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Don't suppose it makes a difference though." He said quietly. "It's not the same with you?"

Talus knew precious little about other aspects of the Academy. Something done on purpose in order to separate them.

 

[Ayara Vagrand]

"I don't have competition." She said frankly. "Sometimes the necromancers harass me, but by and large they're pretty harmless in their tormenting." Her hands turned, palms up for a moment as if to gesture a sort of I don't know. "I study a lot. It's difficult to get into brawls when you're reading. And when I'm not reading I'm practicing what I read -- typically alone or with a mentor." Ayara was generally kept confined to a room under guard when training.

It was safer for everyone that way, in case something went awry.

"My interactions with the others is often limited to what little free time we're given. As far as missions being sabotaged though? I wouldn't trust anyone to have my back if it meant risking their own skin, but I've never been victimized to the degree you seem to have been."

 

[Talus]

Kressim. The name of the ancient Anirian god rang in his mind as a small curse.

Worship and religion were bygone things in Vel Anir, but his hometown of Vel Luin still somewhat clung to the old ways. The faith was one of the only things he could remember of his mother, and though he held no belief, he still used the gods name in vain.

Her Experience is completely different than ours. Talus thought to himself. Wonder what Hal would make of that.

Was it the magic? Necromancy could be powerful in a battle, summoning...whatever else Ayara had access to perhaps even more so. Dreadlords could burn entire armies, but what if she could summon something that could burn cities?

The idea made him feel very small. "I see."

Talus said quietly.

"I'm not sure which of us has it better." He commented.