Private Tales The Death of Innocence

[Olvir]

The two men shot a weary look at one another, but like the good Guardsmen they were no objection was offered from either of them. Ollie watched them for a brief moment, feeling a strange unease settle within the pit of his stomach.

Both men tugged on their reigns, and with a slow amble hey headed towards the mist.

Almost as soon as they neared it the billowy white fog seemed to stretch towards them. It extended and crept over the ground, as though it were reaching out and grasping them. Ollie, and the other watched in silence, only the occasional nicker of a horse echoing out.

Then the two men disappeared into the mist.

"Sir, this don't seem right. The stories were al-"​

Before Dori could even finish speaking a blood curdling scream echoed out from the pasture. A scream of utter terror followed by the screeching of a horse.

Almost in an instant all the faces around them turned white, horror dawning on features as the Major immediately snapped his hand to his sword.

"FISCHER! MEYER!?"​

The Major shouted as he trotted forward.

 

[Houri]

"It's not me," Vayu muttered through Houri's lips and the young girl frowned; no, this fog was not one of the many facets of her magic. An uneasiness stirred within her multiple personalities. None of them enjoyed when it was not them controlling the weather but they liked it even less when another force was controlling it altogether. Her fingers tightened on her reins and when the Major trotted forward, Houri spurred hers so that it cut his off, causing both horses to toss their heads as they tried to nip at one another.

"Nobody touch the fog!" Houri raised her voice so all those gathered could hear, though her eyes rested solely on the man meant to be in charge, who had sent his men stupidly into the mists.

She had a suspicion but...

 

[Olvir]

The Major balked, clearly about to shout something when Houri's voice called over him. Confusion flickered over his gaze, and he was about to open his mouth when Olvir cut him off.

"Listen to her!" He shouted.

Apparently the the word of two nobles was exactly what the man needed. Clearly it was nothing like he had ever seen before, and the moment of panic was suddenly overcome as both Houri and Ollie shouted at him. Standing in his stirrups he shouted to the others.

"Stay back! Stay back!"​

The man echoed, his voice booming out and entirely ignoring the fact that none of the other Guards had moved to join him in moving forward.

Ollie's head swiveled. "Houri, what do we do?"

As the words fell from his mouth, the mist began to creep forward. Slowly crawling towards the gathered soldiers.

 

[Houri]

"Fight.

No, retreat.

We need to find out what is in it," all three contradicting and unhelpful statements sounded as though they came from different people. Someone full of anger and arrogant zeal, someone scared and concerned, and another thoughtful and intrigued. Houri gave an irritated noise.

"I need to touch it," she decided in her own voice, and began to clamber down from her horse, thrusting the reins towards the Major as though he were a common stable hand. Gathering the fabric of her riding dress in fists she marched forward with determination.

 

[Olvir]

Both Olvir and the Major looked at Houri in utter confusion. The words tumbling from her lips making about as little sense to either of them as possible. The latter glanced at the former, his lips pursing in a question that didn't quite make it. "That seems like a bad ide-"

Before he could finish his sentence Houri practically bounded from her horse.

Reins were shoved into the Major's hands, and panic rushed through Ollie's chest. Throwing himself from his saddle the young noble launched himself after his friend. "Houri!"

He called.

"Didn't you just say no one should touch it?!" Ollie demanded as he half jogged after her, fingers reflexively grasping the hilt of his sword as the mist continued it's slow crawl towards them.

"MY LORD! LADY! Please get back here!"​

The Major called out behind them.

 

[Houri]

Can you... hear that?

Yes, a sort of... singing.

"I can hear it too," Houri murmured, completely unaware that Ollie had dashed after her. Her attention was focused on the mist that leapt and rolled towards them like a faithful hound running towards its master. Then suddenly it halted and stood in places as though it had hit some invisible wall. Houri began to quietly hum the odd melody she could hear in the whispers of the mist and it tugged at her memories. An old nursery rhyme her mother had sung to her over the cradle. Or had she dreamed that?

A single tendril of the mist crept forward and formed the same of a hand that reached out towards the girl...

 

[Olvir]

"Houri." Olvir heard his own voice. Heard how calm it sounded.

It was shocking, in it's own sort of way. He felt panic in his chest, fear in every muscle in his body. The whole of him wanted nothing less than to scoop up his friend and get the fuck out of here. This wasn't a problem for him, this wasn't something that he could solve.

Ollie was a Weiroon.

They hadn't faced a fight in...who knew how long.

The legacy of his house was cowardice, fear. Solving a problem by throwing money at it and hoping that would somehow fix it. Yet here he was, facing things he had no hope of understanding. "Hou-"

Stop.​

His blade hissed in his mind, Ollie's hand freezing mere inches from Houri.

You'll be the death of both of you.​

 

[Houri]

The hand of mist grasped the girls outstretched one.

The rest of the world winked out of existence for Houri and before her stood a girl. Her dress was torn, the ribbons in her hair half undone, and where eyes should be was gaping darkness. Houri couldn't quite meet them for she had the sense if she did she would fall into an abyss she would never be able to escape from.

"Are you here to play with me?" asked the girl and her head cocked unnaturally to the side.

"Maybe... What kind of game?" Houri asked slowly, her eyes searching for any sign of the creatures she had fought before. The girl clapped her hands and her smile revealed more darkness.

"You and your little friends try and escape my maze before my puppy catches you! If I win, you all get to stay with me forever and play every single day."

"And if I win?" Houri tilted her head and the girl's smile faltered.

"What do you want?"

This time, Houri smiled.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie stood there like an absolute moron.

He had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. The Mist had touched Houri, or maybe Houri had touched the Mist and she...well she wasn't dead like the soldiers were. That was a positive sign, but her body seemed utterly frozen in place.

Panic set in, and he was about to reach out to touch her when the sword once again screamed in his head.

STOP! Don't touch her.​

It hissed in his mind, and Ollie almost recoiled. Anxiety stretching into the pit of his stomach as he heard another voice call out to him.

"Lord Weiroon! What's going on?"​

The Major demanded, his voice almost as shaky as Ollie's own. "Jus-just wait! She's...doing magic!"

He called out.

Patience.​

The sword insisted.

 

[Houri]

Deal struck the mists began to once more creep forward but faster this time until in every direction the mist spread. Their little band stood in a wide lane, mist rising up on either side. Their choices were left or right where gaps of darkness suggested further bends to choose from. In the distance a howl taken up by others in a pack filled the eerie night.

Houri wiped her cold, wet hand on her dress skirts then turned, only to flinch at seeing Ollie so close to her.

"I said don't come near the mist!" she harrumphed, putting her hands on her hips. Then she seemed to consider something and relaxed with a sigh. "It doesn't matter now. Now we just have to win the game."

 

[Olvir]

Stand. Still.​

The sword didn't have to tell him, not in that moment as the mist crept forward and began to surround them on all sides. Fingers that had already held onto the blade with a white knuckle grip tightened somehow. Holding the blade hard enough that his hand began to shake.

His eyes flickered left and right, head turning to look back at the soldiers only to find them gone. Shit.

Ollie thought to himself, swiveling back just in time to see Houri turn around. His face somewhat paling as she quickly offered him a biting rebuke.

"I didn't-I thought-" Fuck. His head shook. "What game?!"

He demanded in confusion, forcing his hand to slacken on the blade.

 

[Houri]

"Hide and seek," Houri said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world and then turned back to the others. Several horses had thrown their riders and fled, and the army that remained looked visibly shaken. The Major had managed to remain on his horse and Ollie and Houri's too had somehow been held down.

"We escape the maze before her dogs get us, and we win. She'll leave," Houri raised her voice slightly so the others could hear as she made her way back to their horses.

"Has anyone else read the Othello's Labyrinth?"

 

[Olvir]

Olvir blinked, staring at Houri as though he were trying to figure out whether or not she was joking. After a moment, he realized that she was being utterly serious. "She'll just...leave?"

He asked tentatively, not even questioning who she might be.

"I have!"​

One of the soldiers answered Houri, his other hand clutching tightly at a sword that had been drawn when the mists snapped forward. He looked to be just about Ollie's age, though was probably a year or two older. It was obvious he was trying to put on a brave face, but Ollie could see the fear within his eyes.

Olvir thought his name might have been Jerid

"Is it like the story?"​

He asked, Ollie furiously trying to recall the details of the tale.

"Do we follow the bird songs?"​

 

[Houri]

"Yes, she said--" Houri didn't clarify further for Ollie because one of the other guards piped up. Her eyes lit up with a little bit of hope; if others knew of the story then maybe they had a chance to win this! She wasn't sure they would listen to her on her own.

"Kind of," Houri said. The absence of sound around them apart from the distant braying of the wolves made the mist-maze all the more eerie. "There are clues though, we just need to figure it out as we go," the girl had been a little vague about what clues exactly she was going to provide but she had sighed over her favourite book - Othello's Labyrinth - and she had been keen to create it near enough the description in the book. Perhaps the birds were dead birds, or maybe it was a choice or red or blue door each turn.

Despite the ominous connotations of what losing meant, Houri couldn't help but be a little excited to play.

 

[Olvir]

"This is..." Olvir didn't have a chance to finish his sentence because the Major finished it for him.

"Utter madness."

The Nobles head darted back at the commanding officer. By now the Soldiers had gathered around them, most with a dubious if not outright fearful expression. Trepidation hung in the air, and even the man who had spoken up seemed half trying to hide.

Ollie took in a sharp breath. "Whatever it is, we don't have much of a choice."

He pointed out, fingers wrapping around the sword hanging at his waist.

"We go forward, or we don't get out." Eyes flickered to Houri. "So...I guess lead the way."

Because what else could they do?

 

[Houri]

"I-it's not madness Sir, the maze should be hard but not impossible or there's no fun," Jerid explained then quickly clamped his mouth shut when the Major turned round with a look as cold as a frost giants breath. Houri completely missed it of course.

"That's exactly it!" Houri said and clapped her hands together, hoping her enthusiasm would get rid of some of the gloomy faces she could see. Including Ollie's. She patted him on the arm gently. "It'll be okay," she soothed before clambering back into the saddle. Once seated and the horse had stopped pawing the ground, the group walked on.

It wasn't long before they came to their first turning and sure enough two symbols were carved into the side of the mist in a deep blood red. One looked eerily like the creature Houri and Ollie had seen and the other was a doll.

 

[Olvir]

Despite Houri's gently reassurance, Ollie did not relax his grip on the sword.

He knew that it wasn't going to be much help in this situation, knew that he couldn't cut his way out, but there was something to be said about having at least something to hang onto. So as they walked he kept his hand on the hilt, following along directly behind Houri.

"Neither of those are a bird."​

One of the soldiers remarked as they stopped in front of the first fork. "No..."

Ollie agreed, but didn't say anything. A puzzle running through his thoughts, when suddenly a memory flickered in his mind.

"But there's an old song..." Lips pursed. "The one about a finch who is given the straw for her nest by a doll so she might keep her children warm."

He glanced at Houri. "Does that count as a bird song?"

 

[Houri]

"And the... things do be lookin' like those creatures you dids see," said another soldier, nervously fingering his arrows that sat in a quiver at his hip.

"But is she trying to trick us? Surely warning of danger is too easy..."

A quiet bickering broke out as soldiers offered up their opinions. Houri meanwhile sat quietly with her chin in her hand, propped up by the pommel of her saddle, and with her brows furrowed in thought. It did seem too easy she would warn them with these types of symbols but Ollie's logic made sense, as did the first soldiers.

"Well, one wrong turn won't be much of a bother, we'll just turn back if it's a dead end," the Major put in having once again found his voice and authority. He cleared his throat. "We go with Lord Weiroon's suggestion of the doll," he nodded firmly and turned his horse in that direction.

 

[Olvir]

Ollie had always liked puzzles.

Riddles and games of the mind were something that he'd truly enjoyed as a child. Even then it had been a way of challenging himself, looking past ordinary ways of thinking and breaking out of the mould which had been designed for him.

Yet he found it far less enjoyable when his and a dozen other lives were on the line.

His lips thinned as the Major called to follow his suggestion. Half of him wanting to deny the fact he had made the call. Yet before he could the Soldiers began to move, and before long the group had headed down the narrow misty hall.

Behind them the fog sealed shut, and a small ring of laughter echoed out.

For a second, a brief second Ollie thought they were done, and yet no end came.

None of the anxiety left his chest as they continued however, another five minutes passing before they reached yet another fork in the road. This time it was not symbols that appeared, but odd runes. They hunt within the mists, and then suddenly shifted to the common tongue.

'Uriel', Read the one on the left, the right stating; 'Alketh'

Ollie stared at it, a frown furrowing his brow once again.

 

[Houri]

"Well this is fucking ridiculous! It's not even the same!" Cried one of the soldiers as he glanced about the maze and seized a hold of his sword drawing it from its scabbard.

"Whoever 'she' is, I don't like games. Fuck. This."

"Wai--" Houri stretched a hand out towards the man as he randomly chose a path and stormed off down it. He had barely gone three steps when from the mists suddenly one of the creatures appeared, leaping from the mist itself and onto the unsuspecting prey. The man screamed until his throat was a bloody mess and the creature looked up at the others gathered, snarling. It took one step.

"GO!" Houri shouted and held out a hand. Her own fog formed, blocking off the creature but it was too late. A howl echoed out across the maze and howls answered.

 

[Olvir]

Shit. Shit shit shit. Ollie thought to himself as the soldier was suddenly eviscerated by one of the wolf like creatures.

Houri shouted, and almost reflexively Olvir drew his sword. The deep crimson blade flickered from his scabbard, the bare light within the fog seeming impossibly to catch upon it's edges. Panic rushed through the young noble, but a voice echoed in his mind.

Run.​

The blade urged in his mind, and as though shoved Ollie began to rush forward.

Ahead of them the Soldiers did not need the invisible press of a talking sword. As soon as Houri shouted, they launched themselves along the correct path. Running as fast as their armored figures would allow. A panic spreading among them as they reached another fork in the road.

This time, two different types of trees sat upon the foggy wall, some of the soldiers grinding to a stop. Behind them the howls grew louder.

Now there was no time to think, no time to consider.

"LEFT!" Shouted Ollie as he saw the symbols. "The tree on the left! The other one is poisonous!"

A gallah tree it was called. It's sap deadly to all but demons, the stories said. No birds would roost in it, and for now that was all they had to go on.

 

[Houri]

The maze hounds howled and hammered against the fog not made of their mistresses whim. It appeared they could not travel through that which Houri created which she was relieved to find. She didn't want to think about what they might feel like. She didn't pay much attention to the horse as it galloped wildly after Olvir other than to clamp her legs and make sure she stayed firmly in the high cantle saddle. Her attention was on keeping the mist in place for as long as she could.

Left the army swung and suddenly the maze opened into a larger square. At the centre stood a decorative fountain where water sprayed from the mouths of four sea creatures; a siren, a kraken, a Lung and a kelpie. Including the direction they had just come there were now four choices.

Houri sealed up the entrance behind them.

"That eliminates the Kraken," she panted. "I know stories with all these beasts in and all of them kill humans."

 

[Olvir]

Olvir seemed to stall for a brief moment.

He coursed through the legends within his mind, those which he'd read himself, those told to him by his parents. The tale of the Kraken rang in his mind, the ancient sailors traversing the sea from near and far. The monsters that lurked in the depths.

All the others? Fuck if he knew. Shit.

He swore again in his mind, determined to keep any and all other thoughts to himself. The soldiers around him were brittle, ready to break. He could feel it in the air, all of them were one more loss away, one false step. They had to keep it together?

"Which one is connected to birds?" He asked quickly, easily and willingly showing his ignorance.

Now wasn't the time for Hubris. Now was the time to survive.

 

[Houri]

"Don't kelpies have wings?" Ventured one soldier, scratching his head.

"No you idiot, that's a pegasus. Kelpies are the ones that wear your skin as a coat!" Snapped another.

"You do be both wrong, kelpies be fae that lure a man in by appearing as a woman then eating them."

Houri was beginning to get a headache and it beat in time with the feeling of those creatures pounding against the fog barriers she had created. Blood trickled from her nose and she wiped it before anyone could see.

"Lung's can fly," piped up a small woman. With no medals nor stripes she must have been just an ordinary private, and new at that if the cleanliness of her uniform was anything to go by. She blushed when everyone glanced towards her. "Or at least... the story goes they used to be able to. They're related to dragons after all," she trailed off and twiddled her thumbs.

 

[Olvir]

Wings, birds.

That was a very flimsy connection, but it was also the only one that they really had. Olvir let out a curse, glanced to his sword and violently...thought at it. Don't you have the answer?!

He demanded from the blade.

I am a sword. Ask me to kill man or demon and I shall do this, but puzzles? You best ask a pair of glasses.​

Olvir cursed suddenly, some of the soldiers turning towards him with raised eyebrow. His anger and panic so set in that he didn't even notice that his sword had just made a joke for the first time.

"The Lung it is." Olvir declared. "Go!"

They didn't have time to waste, didn't have those seconds to spare. Olvir could see Houri falter, could see her struggle. They had to go. The Major shouted, and then the group of soldiers broke off down the path, rushing forward.

Olvir twisted and turned, waiting by the entrance way and waving to his friend. "Come on!"

He shouted, knowing the beasts would be close behind.