Private Tales The Broken Crown

[Alre Castielle]

Alre didn't like running, never had, probably never would. It felt wrong in a strange way, especially when he had absolutely nowhere else to go.

Fingers tightened on the sword as the two Thugs approached him, their steps loud, almost thunderous. Fingers clenched around Alre's sword. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a brief moment before he suddenly turned on his heel.

With one quick motion the Once King grabbed Avery and swept her off her feet.

Like a sack of potatoes he threw her over his shoulders, darting immediately away from the men approaching and rushing back towards the way that they had come from.

It wasn't pretty, but the three men seemed to stunned by his cowardice that it took them a second to give chase.

 

[Mariana]

She didn't even protest. Barely blinked as she was scooped off her feet and now hitched over his shoulders. Head spun with the sudden movement. She blinked and gritted her teeth as she tried to fight the darkness threatening to take over her vision.

Where could they go? If they got out.

How deep did the betrayal go?

Her skin felt like fire where the markings now lay.

"Another court," she muttered against Alre. Perhaps they could find safety there. "Might....be our only chance." Then she felt the darkness take her and she slumped against him.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"Fuck that." Alre yelled as he turned a corner on his heel, clutching Avery with his left hand while the other still held his sword.

His eyes glanced quickly around them, trying to find the best place to move to next. In the back of his mind he thanked the fact that he'd had a meal earlier that night, painfully aware that if he'd not eaten he would have already collapsed onto the ground in a heap. Fingers tightened, and he began to jog down the left hall.

"We know that's where they're going." Alre pointed out as he rushed forward. "They'll just slaughter their way through that too."

Of course, he didn't really have much of a better suggestion.

Lips thinned, and he looked up at her. "Do you have any gold?"

Temple like this had to have gold, right?

 

[Mariana]

Averey, much to Alre's dismay probably, was out like a sack of potatoes. He wouldn't even get a grunt or whimper from her at his question. However, the secret corridor they were fleeing down would lead through a small treasury room. Where they kept the donations from devout temple goers. They were stacked in very orderly bags from golds, silvers, and copers. There was a very neat ledger cataloguing everything as well.

Some scribe had spent a lot of time making sure everything was accounted for and went to good use.

Alre was about to hit the jackpot.

Sadly, no dragons guarded the small trove. But there was one ornery cat.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Woe was he, for he could only carry so much with the Elf on his shoulder.

Alre had of course seen vast amounts of gold before, he was a Prince after all, but it had been two years since he'd been kicked from his fathers kingdom. With the horde inside of this room he could have built himself an army.

His lips tightened, and for a moment he thought about just tossing Avery onto the ground and walking away with as much gold as he could carry. After a few seconds he sighed, glancing at her tattoos before shaking his head and simply stuffing his pockets.

The gold weighed him down, but they would need it. "Alright, here we go."

Alre said as he hefted Avery and carried her into Alliria proper.

 

[Mariana]

Averey finally opened her dark-blue eyes. She'd expected to be....anywhere not here. Brow scrunched up as her senses caught up with her. She was swinging, slightly. Wooden creaking and the sound of water met her sharp ears. Salt and fish smells pricked the tip of her nose.

She sat up, slowly, her mouth bone dry.

What the devils?

A small, round porthole let in some light and the...ocean beyond. She struggled to get out of the hammock in her robes, mercifully still on.

"Is this the first circle of hell?" She rasped. Fingers tightening around the ropes of the hammock. Why weren't they in the day court? Or spring? Hell, she even would've taken summer.

 

[Alre Castielle]

His eyes opened in the hammock above her, body shifting slightly as he pulled the hood over his eyes. "We're on a ship."

Alre countered quietly.

The trip outside of the Temple had been a rather short one. He'd rushed down to the docks, found the largest galleon heading to the furthest place and then offered them a decent amount of gold in exchange for taking them there.

Easy really, and effective.

"We're on our way to the Empire." Far from his home, far from hers. "At least...I think."

 

[Mariana]

She stumbled from the hammock and pressed her hands and face against the porthole. Then spun around, head tilting up so she could see his face.

"WHAT."

She asked, trying to remain calm.

"What have...," fingers reached up, tangling in her wavy hair and squeezed. "..you done?" Palms shifted and pressed against the fair skin of her face. "My sisters. My family. You can't just. We can't just." Hands fell to gather the fabric of her long dress in her hands.

"The empire?"

She whispered, voice strangled. Head shook.

No.

"I don't, we don't have any other temples there. I have to meet with the other council members. Find out what's going on."

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre looked down at her. He hadn't exactly known that fact, but he'd been hoping that it would be so. He had told her his thoughts about it in the Temple, the danger of going to another one of her little...covens. Why he hadn't wanted to.

They were already being hunted, why run into the trap? "Good."

He told her, pulling his hood up just enough so that he could look down at her. His fingers went back to being interlaced with one another, lips thinning but twerking into a smile.

"Means you're far off from those men." He gestured. "Means we're safe a little while."

Also meant they were far off from home, but he had plenty of time to do what he needed.

 

[Mariana]

"But we don't have any resources. Connections. I don't have any."

She paused, and walked to the small door, then turned to him again.

"Wait a minute. How did you pay for our passage?" This time her fingers released the fabric of her dress, hands coming to perch on her hips. A small frown began to pucker on her lips.

 

[Alre Castielle]

He waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, Priestess."

Alre decided that it was probably not the best to tell her that he had stolen her coin from the temple, mostly because he didn't want to. The money would go to funding what he needed to do. Payment for having saved her life.

"Just be happy you're alive." The young Prince reminded her. "That you're safe, and that you have some reprieve from those bandits."

He looked down at her. "Or would you rather that mage have gotten your...book."

Alre gestured ot her skin.

 

[Mariana]

"Don't worry about it?" She huffed, releasing a breath of air she'd been holding. "You had nothing before I found you on the street the other day you...," realization flashed across her features and she stepped over to him, finger poking up, through the hammock at his side.

Into his ribs.

"You stole it, didn't you?"

She stepped away and stiffly crossed her arms, as if she could cover some of the markings that now graced her skin there. She knew from the lingering warmth that the words had also made it to her back, wrapping around her torso.

"I'm surprised you got me out at all. Could've just taken the money and run," she huffed, dark blues aligning with his own.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre let out a muted 'oof' as she jabbed a finger into his ribs. "I didn't steal anything."

He told her, still not moving his arms as he lay there like a petulant child.

Lips thinned for a moment as Avery made her last point, but he didn't voice the fact that he already had the thought hours ago. Lips thinned for a moment and he took a breath, closing his eyes again as he tried to relax himself.

"I did get you out." He reminded her. "And I'll keep you alive in the Empire too."

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Because it was the only way to keep that book of yours safe."

Alre reminded her again.

 

[Mariana]

Auburn brows rose along her moonlit skin. Arms remained stiffly crossed. "Oh you didn't steal anything." She wasn't buying it but she wasn't going to push him on it any further. Because of what he said.

He had gotten her out.

He hadn't left her behind.

When he could've. Multiple times. That didn't mean she trusted him. No. But she should at least be a little...thankful.

"Goddess help me," the elf priestess muttered softly. "Have you ever been to the Empire before? How exactly are you going to keep me alive? I doubt waving around that sword of yours is a solution as often as you think it is."

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre let out a yawn, deciding that the sleep he had been so enjoying was probably over now that she had been awoken and found herself with more than a thousand questions. He wondered briefly which of them was the younger.

Pinching the bridge of his nose the Prince let out a sigh. "Yes I've been there."

Briefly, when he'd been less than twelve years old. It had not been the Empire then, but from what he understood the God-King had not much changed things in most of the cities. Where they were going it wouldn't really matter much.

"I'm going to get us through by talking." He told her. "And telling them who I am."

Alre waved a hand. "I'm sure I can find someone to take interest."

Once he slipped a few coins into the right hands anyway.

 

[Mariana]

Averey had traveled all across the continent. She may be young for an elf but she was certainly older than this human. But she'd never been to the Empire. Or even, what it had been before.

Auburn brows lofted slightly and she paused, leaning her back against the doorway.

"Who you are. A man who likes to partake in drink and mutters drunkenly in the streets? Turns his nose up at higher powers and their temples?"

Hands never fell from her hips as she eyed his form in the hammock.

 

[Alre Castielle]

He let out a long exhausted sigh. "I am Prince Alre Castielle, son of King Verek Castielle, heir to the throne of House Castielle."

Not technically anymore, but we'll that was semantics.

His fathers death and his Uncle's men had seen to that, but that didn't mean he had given up any sort of hope. There were still ways for him to regain his crown, and he would do his best to exploit every single one of them. That included her.

"I turn my nose up to the higher power because they've thoroughly fucked me." More than once. "And I've decided that if they won't do me any good, then I won't do them any either."

That easy really.

The Priests back home had sided with his Uncle, had even tried to turn him over. Fuckers had as much loyalty as a pack of rats with only one scrap of cheese. Why bother with them in the end at all.

 

[Mariana]

"A prince?"

She gave him a thorough look. Then her deep-blue eyes rolled. "In the presence of royalty all this time," her voice as dry as the desert air they would soon be in. "Let me guess. You were disinherited? You gambled your fortune away? You chased after too many skirts?"

Fingers fell from her hips as she gave him a look.

 

[Alre Castielle]

For a few moments he looked down at her. Alre knew that he as young, knew that to many he must have looked little more than a child. Yet he was more grown than many in this world. That was a fact that he had already known.

"My Uncle slaughtered my father and took his crown." He dropped simply.

This priestess was slowly starting to get on his nerves, a fact that he found more and more difficult to hide as time went on between them. She made the same assumptions as others, she made the same judgements.

They always did. "I was hunted for being the heir, driven from my own lands."

He scowled down at her.

 

[Mariana]

So there it was.

The truth she'd been trying to get him to say. To own up to. To face.

There was a pregnant pause between them. Her hands fell from her hips, a sorrowful look crossing her features. "I'm sorry for misjudging you," she said quietly. "And I'm sorry that happened to you," she added even more quietly.

Just because she served a greater power didn't mean she was perfect. If anything, it pointed out her own flaws all the more so.

"For what it's worth." She opened the cabin door quietly. "Thank you. For saving me. Deciding to stay instead of leave back at the temple." And she meant every word. Whether he'd believe her or not was up to him. "I'm going above deck to pray. It seems I have a lot to confess."

 

[Alre Castielle]

"Don't get in the way of the sailors." Alre told her, ignoring everything else that she had said.

A small, tiny, very tiny, pang of guilt struck him at the words, but he immediately pushed the feeling as far down as he possibly could. There was no room for that sort of thing in a quest to retake his kingdom. Not when somuch lay before him.

Not when so much blood needed to be spilled still.

As she left the cabin Alre took in a deep breath, his head turning as he shifted within the Hammock. IT would be days yet until they reached the Empire, and he still had to figure out exactly what he was going to do when they got there.

He was only seventeen, young by most standards, but he had a Kingdom to reclaim and a family to avenge. Even if many thought they didn't deserve avenging.

 

[Mariana]

She'd been on boats before.

Instead of pointing that out to the young man, Averey gave him a silent nod and left him to his own devices. As she left the cabin, she made her down a narrow hall that opened to a wide-set of wooden steps. Climbing up, she found herself on the main deck. Sun warmed her skin.

Tipping her head up to meet the rays, she allowed herself the smallest of smiles.

The day was beautiful. Blue, crisp skies. Bright sun. The sounds of men working along deck, manning the rigging. She looked down at her arm, not entwined with writing of an ancient and foreign language. One she knew. One very few knew. Fingers brushed down the words as if she could wipe them away.

Sighing, she stepped around the men, some of them staring after her.

She'd been told she was beautiful before. But she'd always dismissed the praise. She'd always liked it more when someone noticed her kindness instead.

Finding an empty spot on deck near the front of the ship, she tucked her legs beneath her and sat, letting her hands rest on either knee, palms up as she closed her eyes and began to meditate.

"Forgive me," she began in a soft and lilting voice.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre stayed below deck.

He had absolutely no intention of offering any sort of prayer of interacting with anyone at all while he didn't have to. The world, as far as he was concerned, could fuck off.

The young Prince instead spent his time planning, trying to figure out where they would go, what they would do, and how the fuck he could get back his throne. There weren't really many options left open to him, but at least he had a trump card now.

If he could figure out how to use it.

There were still a few questions in regards to that, though he supposed he would figure it out as he spent more time with the Priestess. That was what he thought anyway. A gamble, he supposed, but one worth making given his status before all of this.

 

[Mariana]

Unlike Alre, Averey was a social butterfly. By the end of day two on their voyage, she'd learned every name of each man and woman on their ship. And they knew hers. People found she was easy to talk to. Genuine with her words and a good listener. Several came to her for prayers. Those who voyaged at sea tended to be a superstitious lot and they seemed to like having a priestess on board, at least, one like Averey, who spent the time to get to know them. To listen. Who offered to help where she could.

She sat smiling up at an orc named Tom in the mess-hall. He was missing a large tooth in the front. Other passengers and crew were also packed around the long table, enjoying the nightly meal of stew. Averey's dark-blue eyes scanned the entrance way, wondering if the young prince would join them tonight, pointed ear still listening to Tom and his story.

"....an then he said LOOK. LOOK AT THE GIANT ASS SEA BEAST BEYOND THEM WAVES!"

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre didn't spend all of his time in his room.

Some of it was among the officers. While Avery mingled with the crew and listened to their stories, Alre grabbed his meals and made his way to the first-mate or quartermaster. Both of them were clearly not Allirian, though that didn't matter much to Alre.

The Young Prince was knowledgeable enough in the nations that he could enamor himself with most people, and these were no different.

Through them he learned a bit more about the city they were going to; Salitra.

It was a port, claimed late in the Empire's conquests and with a deeply seeded culture. It was filled with rich merchants and princes, all of whom who had sworn to the God-Emperor but were not necessarily the most devout.

They were the ones Jorg decided he would need to speak to. Especially with Avery at his side.