Private Tales The Broken Crown

[Mariana]

"You have no idea who these people are. The ones that are after me and neither do I. I don't know what other magic they might have. But I don't want to run forever," she admitted slowly.

Another shove at his chest.

"But I will not tolerate your attitude any more. The blame you cast in your eyes and in your tone on me. If I catch even a whiff of it, so help me we will part ways. And quickly."

Another sharp poke.

"Do you understand?"

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre shrugged. "Alright."

He had to bite his tongue, literally, to stay any other comments that he might have. There were a few choice words that he still could have offered, some biting remarks that he had to hold back, but he knew when it was time to stop pushing.

Every person that he had ever met so far had a breaking point, and over the years he had gotten quite good at guessing where that breaking point might be.

It was better to bend people than to break them.

"We still can't go back though." He said, his tone softer this time. "We need to keep going."

Whether she liked it or not.

 

[Mariana]

Chest heaved and she studied him like a hawk.

She waited for some retort.

Some hint at his old sulkiness.

But after a minute and then a few more when his face hadn't changed. When he didn't utter another word that would irk and ire her, she finally nodded and wiped a hand across her brow.

"I know," shading her eyes she glanced at the position of the sun. Then to the horse. "If we don't find an oasis soon, that horse will die."

And longer after that?

So would they.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre didn't disagree on that. "We have a day or so at least for the Horse. Maybe two more for us."

He could still remember what his fathers mages had told him. A man could go seven days without eating, three days without drinking any water. Alre had no idea if that was exactly true, if those numbers held completely, but it was a good estimate.

"We need to head West." He said. "There's a city out in that direction...I'm pretty sure."

The Prince paused for a moment, then explained. "I was sent on a diplomatic missions out here once by my father. I remember...some things."

Though not a lot given that he'd been drunk most of the time.

Either way, a hazy memory was better than nothing at all.

 

[Mariana]

"Let us be glad you traveled in these parts before," the elf priestess muttered, clutching her arms around herself as she trudged in the direction he pointed. It all looked like endless sands to her. Endless, hot rolling sandy hills.

Her cheeks felt hot to the touch. She was only thankful of the loose clothing she'd gotten before they'd left and the sandals even though her feet burned.

"How...long," she swayed as she walked, "have we been walking?" She blinked away strange images as she looked forwards.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"Not long." Alre said with a shrug. "I'm guessing that magic took a lot out of you."

It had before.

Averey had slept for near a day and a half the last time this had all happened. He had managed to carry her onto a ship and travel half-way around the continent before she had ever woken up. It was a wonder she was still standing.

"Get on the horse." He suggested.

There wasn't much other choice, he certainly couldn't carry her for long. Not in this sort of weather.

"We'll find an oasis eventually." He told her. "Just have to look for the signs."

 

[Mariana]

Her throat was do dry. Her lips were already beginning to crack. The only small mercy was that the sun was low on the horizon. It would be night soon. A break from the unrelenting heat.

"I feel more like myself. But yes, I'm tired. The magic is too strong for a person to carry so it builds and needs a release. I suppose even being a vessel for a release still takes away my energy." A sweaty, sandy palm brushed across her fair forehead. Pausing, she mounted the horse and looked down at the prince.

"Only for a little while. Wake me soon. I do not want to over-burden him." They needed a horse and she didn't want to lose him. She sagged against the creatures neck, her arms looped loosely around.

And she had to wonder if the Emperor would find out about them.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre walked in silence for quite some time.

More than once he stopped to look around, and more than once he thought that perhaps he had accidentally walked in circles. Eventually the sun began to set over the dunes, and finding no oasis just yet Alre felt his heart sink a little.

Until he spotted a sand lemur.

They were strange creatures. Skittish, easily frightened, and subsisted primarily on scorpions and spiders. He watched it from afar for some time, coming to a stop and frowning. It skittered and moved through a nearby cliffside, walking slowly. "Averey."

Alre said, shaking the elf awake.

"Wake up." Lips thinned. "I need you to use your magic."

When you didn't have water to drink...

 

[Mariana]

Head turned as her keen hearing made his voice sound loud. Eyes blinked open and she sat up slowly, keeping her fingers buried in the horse's mane so she wouldn't tip off. Even with the night sky and stars peaking out, her skin still felt hot and burned from the earlier sun. Alre's touch seemed like too much heat against a skin already fevered.

She pulled her arm away and looked down at him. But not without noticing that the landscape had changed. There were rocks and ledges. No longer endless dunes.

Thank the goddess.

"What do you need?"

 

[Alre Castielle]

"I need you to magic that and kill it." Alre said as he pointed towards the Lemur in the distance.

The beast was large enough to tower over even Alre, though it was clearly not very interested in either the human or the Elf. Instead it was picking its way over the cliff rocks. The dunes that lay behind them held a few snakes, but apparently the lemur preferred the rocks.

"We don't have any water." He told her by way of explanation. "But it's blood will quench thirst and get us some much needed sustenance."

Not to mention the meat.

That would help them in the coming days. "I don't have a bow though and it'll run before I can get near it."

Damned things were fast.

 

[Mariana]

"What?"

She frowned and crossed her arms. "I will NOT be drinking animal blood and will not be killing it for you. "But with that animal so close there has to be a water source around her somewhere. I might be able to find it. Help me down from here."

One hand released from the horse's mane as she motioned for Alre to come hither.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre blinked. "Why?"

He truly did not understand. There was no mockery within his voice, no anger, just a simple confusion as he looked at her with absolute bewilderment.

"It's food." The Prince said with a blink. "Nourishment for at least three days."

His head shook but he moved closer as she had asked. "If we don't kill it a Sand Wyrm will probably snap it up within the next few days."

Nature was like that. "We may as well benefit."

Honestly, he really didn't understand her.

 

[Mariana]

A hand went to his shoulder to help brace herself as she swung her leg down and slipped free from the horse. Landing softly on the sand. “The horse needs water and will not drink sand cat blood. And I’d rather kill the wyrm. But we need water right now. Not blood.”

She felt rested from earlier but she knew what she was about to do would wipe her out again.

“Stand back,” the priestess commanded the prince. Taking a knee to the rocky ground, she flattened her palms against it. Eyes closed. The ground around them began to tremble. First nothing. Then. A small crack fissured along the earth, slipping over the ledge of the canyon.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"It's a Lemur." Alre corrected, though it was clear he still did not really like the idea of just trying to follow the creature.

Blood would do. It quenched thirst, gave nutrients, but more than that it was guaranteed. Anything else was just a chance. They might find an oasis, they might find water, but the damned Sand Lemur was right there right now.

Still, he decided not to fight her.

Not this time. "Alright."

The Prince said as she asked him to step back, moving so that she would have the space to do...whatever it was she was doing. His feet planted just behind her as the sudden lurch of the ground gave way, the fissure opening up in the ground and breaking apart the earth itself.

 

[Mariana]

She stood and pointed.

“we follow the crack. It will lead us to water.” Pushing hair from her face, she began the rocky descent down a narrow, canyon pass.

That lemur was long gone with the use of her magic.

“If you have something to say, then say it instead of sulking about.”

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre shrugged his shoulders. "I'm fine."

She was probably right, but he was too tired, too worn out, and too thirsty to actually have any sort of argument with her at this point. He just wanted...well he wanted water, a bed, and something warm to fill his belly.

That Lemur would have done well.

"let's follow the damn crack." Alre said with a heavy sigh. "I'm not arguing."

He motioned for her to go first, glancing at the horse and slyly rolling his eyes so that the Elf would not be able to see it.

 

[Mariana]

“That’s a first,” she said quietly. He brought it out in her. For some reason, she couldn’t help it. Down the narrow pathway they went. Deeper into the canyon. The crack continued around a curve in the wall until her sensitive ears could pick up the sound of trickling water ahead.

“We did it,” she was too tired to smile, only able to drag her feet forward. As the wall curved it also split, to form a small gap. And on the other side was a very small spring of fresh water with the first patch of green she’d seen since they got here.

Stumbling over to it, she quickly knelt and began taking handfuls upon handfuls of the cool water. She did r care if it dribbled down her chin, neck, or clothes.

Thank the goddess.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre moved towards the spring, but was quickly trounced by the horse pushing passed him and practically dunking it's head in the water.

The sight was a comical one, and had he not been on the edge of dehydration he would probably have laughed. Bitter as it would have been. Slowly he stumbled forward, casting himself to his knees and quickly drinking from the fountain.

A violent shake rattled his body, a breath filling his lungs.

"Kress." Alre said as he splashed the water on his face.

They weren't even half-way through the desert yet, but at least they had water, at least they could fill their skins and take some with them.

That was something.

 

[Mariana]

Averey moaned and sat back. Then tipped back, her knees bent. She gazed up at the canyon walls above them. The stars peaking out.

Head turned as she looked at the human.

A gentle raise of her brows. Partially amused. “Kress ?”

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre leaned back. "It's one of the Old Gods."

Those who had been abandoned by most people. The religious Orders of his fathers Kingdom, of his Kingdom, had all but snuffed out tutelage of them. They were worshiped centuries ago, before men built houses out of stone.

"A curse, really." He said as ran a hand through his now wet hair. "He was the watcher of the Netherworld."

Evoking his name was supposed to have been bad luck, though Alre of course didn't believe in that.

 

[Mariana]

A hand went to her forehead as she panted. Her breathing beginning to slow. “Alre,” she breathed.

“can you please not use any gods names in vain? We don’t need anymore misfortune on our side. And if they’re trying to teach you something through continued trials, I want no part on it.”

The elf folded her hands across her belly, unwilling to move from her splayed out spot.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre blinked.

He'd never expected such a request, mostly because he assumed that Avery didn't believe in other gods save for her own. That was usually how it was with everyone like her. They didn't even like to acknowledge that other kids were actually a thing. "He's a dead god."

The would be King clarified, looking at the Priestess oddly for a moment.

"Slaughtered by the new." His shoulders shrugged. "Or so they say. Don't think there's much he can do anymore."

Press no longer had the power to curse someone, to follow them or try to weep despair in where they once stood. That was what the Priests back home had said. The Old gods had been killed by the new, their corpses forming mountains and fonts of magic that sorcerer's and the like had chased for centuries. Alre was not certain of that or course, but invoking Kress would do no more harm than speaking the name of a sheep.

At least he thought.

 

[Mariana]

“So they say,” she said quietly, staring up at the stars and the clear night. “There are legends of fallen gods only fallen to take on mortal forms. To walk among us temporarily. Then to return to their kingdoms. If they’re gods, I imagine they can’t truly die. At least, not with how we view death.”

Eyes flickered to the prince.

“Was there ever a time you believed in any of them?”

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to argue the point of religion with a Priestess. She very well might have been right, even if that was not what the old legends said. Who was he to dispute that point?

He'd never even really paid attention to his tutors. "Suppose we could visit one of the corpses and find out."

God Wells they were called, though most people had no idea what they were.

"I don't know." Alre said. "Not really."

There had never been much point. "My father did, and so does my Uncle. Most of the Kingdom does, but for me?"

He'd never seen the benefit. His father had prayed all his life and still ended up a corse.

 

[Mariana]

For an elf of the night court, she was beginning to feel rejuvenated under the starry sky. There was always something about the night that made her feel stronger. A small, happy and contented sigh left her lips. She wasn't surprised by his answer.

"Maybe one day, you'll believe in something bigger than yourself," she said it quietly and wasn't referencing the gods or goddesses necessarily. Perhaps himself. Perhaps a better future that he could bring not only to replace what he lost but to have something better for his people.

"We should stay the night and following day. Travel tomorrow night. Sleep during the day."