Private Tales The Failure of Nobility

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen didn't seem to mind or to notice the blood.

"Of course." Then she averted her gaze from his, as if ashamed to even say what she spoke next. "I still want to get back home."

Taking from Edric's example, Kristen squatted down and took the waterskin from the belt of the nomad with the blazing bronze eyes. She didn't stand back up immediately.

She took a moment to look down at the gaping hole in the man's chest, the jagged bones within, the shredded muscles and organs, the dark red sand visible through his back. She forced herself to look. Revulsion swirled in her stomach again, but this time it was lesser than before.

At last Kristen stood. And she started to walk toward the ridge with the camels.

That was how she could do it. It was how they did it. Edric wasn't born the Dreadlord he was today. He was made that way.

Step by step.

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced at Kristen for a brief moment.

Had he been the more perceptive sort, had he been the kind of man that would care me might have stopped and asked if Kristen was okay. But Edric had never been that sort.

He was focused on the mission. He was entirely intent on getting home. If Kristen decided that it wasn't time for talk then it was simply that way. He was glad for it, in fact. The Camels would be faster, their journey quicker than before.

Anything else?

It could be left out here in the desert. "We ride hard."

Edric said as they finally reached the triplet of Camels, grabbing the creatures reins and gently patting it's snout. There were a few more supplies on the creatures back, but he didn't pay much mind of that. They had what they needed. Now they just needed to make sure they weren't followed.

"Get out of this desert and onto more familiar territory." He patted the creature a moment more, then climbed into the saddle. "Look up, and don't look back."

It wasn't worth dwelling on.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The assault from the nomads had been harrowing, horrific, and in Kristen's mind a needless spilling of blood. Yet the camels she and Edric had procured from them had been a godsend. Far behind them now were the open sands of the desert, across the Baal-Asha river they had made their way, and now they trod upon the vast plains and roughed scrubland of Cortos. What would have taken perhaps a week or more had been reduced to a matter of a few days.

Now, they stood overlooking a large city in the distance. Unknown to Kristen despite her grasping desperately in her mind for her geographical lessons, this was the city of Sene.

Overhead the sky was clear and blue, the sun at the apex of its height. But over the seas to the south, stormclouds were rolling in, dark and ominous, up from the Coast.

"At least we needn't spend the night at the mercy of those rains," Kristen said.

She glanced over to Edric. Still in her mind was that splinter, the truth which bothered her, that admission begging to be said. But it could wait a little while longer. Until they had a roof over their heads, or were comfortably aboard a ship set for Vel Anir.

"Mayhap you've an idea of how much it might cost us to purchase passage on a vessel?" A sheepish look came over her. "I've...not much firsthand experience making purchases, in general, for myself."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Sene.

It was odd that he was back here. Edric could recognize it from the towers, and the way the wall warped around the river the city sat besides. It had been months since he'd been here, and the last time he had there had been an invasion.

One wrought mostly due to something he himself had done. "Depends on the ship."

He said with a frown, glancing at Kristen.

"But...we might not have to worry about that..yet." His head turned back towards Sene. "I'm not sure what the city is like now...I was here with Noel and some of the others a few months ago. The Radiant Church had just taken it when we left."

Edric frowned. "And...I may have killed some people to get us out."

That was an understatement. He'd devastated an entire prison, reaping the life of everyone inside. He could still feel that moment, the power that he'd held in the palm of his hand. How sweet and yet horrifying it had been.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen winced--the Radiant Church. It wasn't particularly surprising, this was Cortos, that much she knew even if the name of the present city eluded her. They seemed to be part church, part military, a notion which held up with Edric's report that they'd "taken" the city. She'd have to follow the hushed warnings of her mother here: the Radiants wouldn't be so fond of a Celestialist, of that she was sure.

And...I may have killed some people to get us out.

Kristen's words caught in her throat. Only a small noise, the malformed attempt, escaped at first. She blinked rapidly, then said with a note of staggered disbelief in her voice, "Edric, is it possible for you to go somewhere and not kill anyone?"

Strangely, it was as if the oracle Sibyl's hadn't spoken some vague prophecy, but merely recited a truth about Edric. Wherever he went, did he find nothing but death?

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a moment.

He wasn't exactly...hurt by the question, but something within his chest seemed to twinge. The frown deepened for a brief moment, his eyes focusing on the city below. For a long while he said nothing, just surveying what lay ahead of them.

Then, finally he spoke. "I did tell you they trained me to kill."

It was what the Proctors had forged him into. Even now, under the Republic, his missions had been to bring death. Edric was under no illusion. He knew his place in the world, or rather, what other people thought his place should be.

For he still had no idea himself.

"Come on." He said, turning and beginning to head down the ridgeline. "I'll steal some clothes on the way, disguise myself."

Sene had a river port, and Kristen was right. A ship would be the fastest way home.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

They trained me to kill.

Something about the brevity of that, the conciseness, struck a chord that was long awaiting to be struck. A cold shiver ran down Kristen's spine as the clouds of blissful, willful ignorance were parted by the sharp sunlight beam of truth. That's what it came down to, isn't it? Once she put aside all of the House politics, the polite euphemisms told by her family, the idea of status and accomplishment, the vague notion of serving her nation, that is what it came down to.

Being trained to kill.

And at some point, if she was ever to become a true Dreadlord...

Come on.

The thoughts which drained the color from her cheeks departed, retreating to the back of mind and awaiting, perhaps, the dark and the quiet of night to come forth again and begin their gnawing torment anew.

Kristen glanced over, her camel in motion beside Edric's. "I was primed to ask just such a thing--if your, ahem, prior misadventure here would pose a problem now."

Her lips thinned.

"In the interest of transparency, how...bad was it?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric frowned for a moment as they began to make their way down the ridge, his fingers tightening almost unconsciously on the reins.

"Bad." The answer was curt, short, but true.

Even now he could still remember the scene that he and Noel had stepped into. Dozens upon dozens of corpses, each one little more than shriveled dust. All of them robbed of life within just a few seconds. The toll of his magics.

Lips thinned, a breath flowing into his lungs. "We were held by Inquisitors."

He said quietly, beginning to explain.

"They were interrogating us." Edric never looked back towards Kristen, not wavering once. "They had some sort of...some sort of metal embedded in us that kept our magic at bay."

His head shook. "Noel managed to rip it free, and when she did."

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "I killed them all."

Two dozen...maybe three. Neither he nor Noel had bothered to count.

"If we're lucky they covered it up." The entire prison had not exactly been official, and Edric hoped that the Radiant Church had decided to bury the entire incident. It was what Vel Anir would likely have done, he hoped it was only the same here.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

A comparison that Kristen could not help but to make: if she had been there instead of Noel during Edric's prior harrowing visit to Sene, would the two of them have made it out alive? Would she have had the fortitude to rip out that magic-dampening device? Would she have been able to do what was necessary to survive?

The natural question followed.

"And if we're not lucky?"

Kristen tried to think optimistically. Gosh, they were so close. So! Close! All they needed to do was to purchase passage aboard a ship bound for Vel Anir and, there, they would be home. Despite the failure of the mission and the poor marks they were certain to receive, they could walk triumphant onto the Academy grounds. Because they will have survived. Whoever had plotted with their nefarious design to have her killed, who didn't care if Edric was collateral, would have their celebration spoiled. Kristen more than simply wanted this moment.

She needed it.

Perhaps this could be the fuel that could power the furnace of necessity. To survive. To do what it takes.

"Surely, if you killed all of your malefactors, there...will likely not be so many folk within the city who even recognize you?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"If we're not lucky we're dead." But they had been lucky so far, and he hoped that it would hold just a little while longer.

The Initiate shook his head for a moment, preferring, for once, to air on the side of optimism.

He and Noel had made it out of Sene before. They had managed to cut through an army and enemy territory and make it back home. Kristen wasn't Noel. She wasn't as strong, competent, nor skilled...but she had her own uses. Something Edric had come to understand.

They would just have to make sure to play to both their strengths. "There is that hope."

Edric agreed with a nod.

"I'm fairly sure you're right, and we can make it through." Edric said. "I just wanted you to be aware of the risk."

If they were caught, if someone did recognize him, Edric was sure they would be executed. Probably without much of a trial.

"We should sell these camels." He said suddenly, deciding not to linger on thoughts of death.

"We won't be needing them." The Initiate said with a shrug. "We'll probably get a good bit of coin too."

Now that he knew what the damned things were actually worth. He was sure he and Noel had gotten ripped off.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

If we're not lucky we're dead.

Kristen took in a sharp breath through her nose, holding it painfully within her chest. Her faith was in Aionus, the Holy Sentinel, the Blessed Guardian of Time. She didn't want to believe the sparing words of an oracle out in a lost oasis in the desert. But Sibyl's prophecy gnawed at her psyche nonetheless, no matter how she tried to dismiss it. Oh, "prophecy," what codswallop, Kristen could proclaim a similar prophecy of death following Edric--Edric of all people!--wherever he went and, wow, wouldn't you know it, call Kristen an oracle, because her prophecy came true in record time! Such demeaning and rationalization did little to help.

The note about the camels was...astute. Kristen wouldn't have thought to do that, sell them. It was something that only made sense and was completely obvious in their situation, yet if Edric hadn't said it the notion would have eluded her whilst her pockets remained without a copper to spare.

Some people called it vernacular wisdom, others called it street smarts, but whatever name it went by, Edric had it and Kristen, with the life she had lived before, lacked it. One could not find it in the pages of a book, only through experience.

"That's a good idea. We will need to pay for our trip home with something, after all."

She thought for a moment.

"The markets of Sene are sure to be full of people. For...for a man such as yourself, it seems the worst possible place you could go." She couldn't believe she was going to use the next word in so casual a context. "Stealing some clothes, as you said, should be our first priority. Preferably in a quieter part of town?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"You mean because of my magic or because of what I did with it?" Edric asked Kristen, not a hint of accusation in his tone.

More than a few times he'd had Proctors and other Initiates treat him as though he were some sort of pariah. He could never really blame them for it. His magic was bad in crowds. Years ago he had barely been able to stop himself from taking the life of those around him.

Now it was second nature, ignoring those fonts of power, but more than a few of the others had experienced Edric's lack of control.

Not that Kristen had been around for that. "You're right though."

He said softly as they began to approach the city.

In the distance he could make out the gate, and two Guards standing besides it. They were dressed in the colors of the Radiant Church, though not checking papers like they had been he was here last time. Edric frowned for a moment, glancing around them.

After a moment he spotted what he was looking for, a farmhouse in one of the fields that surrounded Sene. He remembered them from last time.

"Stay here for a moment." He told her. "I'll be right back."

It would go faster if he went alone. "If anyone asks, we're refugees."

They certainly looked, and smelled, the part after their time in the desert.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen was about to clarify her thoughts on the matter of Edric and crowds, to say something along the lines of, the more people there are, the more likely there will be one who recognizes you. But his response gave her pause. A pause that came with a chilling pang which flowed out from her chest and down her body. She was struck by the inherent danger that came with Edric's magic, that at any moment, should he unleash it willingly or perhaps, dreadfully, unwillingly, any and all of the mundane people around him, who'd nary a defense against it, could have their life sapped away from them in seconds.

The raw power of such a thing was both frightening.

And alluring.

You're right though.

He spared her from answering. Regardless of the risk, going to the markets would be a necessity if they wanted to sell their camels. It just had to be a chance taken if they were to have the best hope of getting back to Vel Anir.

They stopped for a moment, shy of the main gates to Sene by still a considerable distance. Edric was glancing around and once he spotted a farmhouse on the city's periphery, he needn't expound on what he intended--Kristen gathered as much.

"Refugees," she said. She shook her hands out, as if trying to dispel some uncomfortable feeling in them or elsewhere. She half spoke in reply and half spoke as encouragement to herself. "Right. Refugees...from a mission gone poorly. It's mostly true. I just need keep the last part to myself."

Her lips pressed thin as she attempted to steel herself. Kristen was, much to her own knowledge, a notoriously bad liar.

A parting glance to Edric then. Concern, perhaps for a myriad of things, in her tone, and it turned her statement into a quasi-question. "...Try not to take too long?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

"I'll be quick." He assured Kristen, mostly because he intended to run to the farm house and do this as fast as possible. Slipping from the back of his Camel Edric stretched for just half a moment, and then rushed into the field.

He crouched low and moved fast, disappearing within the field of wheat and ensuring that no one would notice him coming to and from the farmhouse.

Of course, as luck would have it, nearly five minutes after Edric disappeared into the wheat field a Guard Column came marching down the road. They had set themselves upon the same path as Kristen and Edric, though had clearly come from the west and not the north.

As they approached Kristen, a few of them gave her sideways glances.

They were the colors of the Radiant Charge, bright red marked with slashes of gold. Upon their armor was emblazoned a bright red sun. Their equipment was not as grand as the Guards, but it was clear they were well worn in battle.

As they moved passed, one of them stopped.

She was dressed in platemail, markedly different than the rest of the soldiers. Strapped to her shoulders was a grand red cloak, and on her hip sat a sword.

"A girl with two camels all to herself? That's a curious sight."​

The woman said, stopping her horse just a few feet short of Kristen.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen saw them coming, and she tried her best to just look idly innocent. There were plenty of people who came and went outside of a large city. She was one of them. A refugee, like Edric said. And it was true. Partly. Stop sweating. Dear Aionus, she could feel herself sweating. It's fine. It's fine. How could that possibly be suspicious? It was a warm day, the sun was in the air, these camels weren't exactly ice elementals either. Stop glancing their way. Snickerdoodle, she glanced their away again right after she thought that! She was curious! A curious girl. Curious refugee girl. Alright, calm down! How could she possibly--

The blood.

The blood on her face from when Edric had touched her chin had since dried and flaked off. None of it was left. But he had patted her back! She hadn't looked but she knew, just knew, there was a dark red handprint stained on her arming doublet!

It's okay, it's okay, IT'S OKAY! The angle of their approach didn't give them much of angle to look at her back. Although, they might not even matter, because she was wearing a godsforsaken arming doublet of all things. Blessed Aionus, help.

One of the Radiant Charge's number took an interest in her. Stopped and asked her a question. Just as she feared.

"Oh." Hold it together, hold it together. "I-I'm just waiting for my friend. He, um...he had to attend to a private matter. Which couldn't wait until we arrived in the city proper."

She smiled, and it just felt awkward.

Edric

 

[Edric]

"Ah. I see. A camel's gait does tend to press down on you."​

The woman said with a smile.

Though her expression was soft, even kind in a way, there was a hawkishness to her gaze. Her eyes seemed to flicker up and down Kristen, watching her as though she were a rabbit that she would soon be scarfing down her throat.

"Why don't I wait with you?"​

She said warmly.

"The Church says we should over kinship and companionship to those we find alone."​

Her hands tugged on her reins, bringing her horse closer towards Kristen.

"Do you follow the Lord of Light?"​

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Oh no. Why did people have to be so nice? Yes, of course that was a most peculiar thing to think, but as backwards and upside-down as this whole ordeal was--and still is--this woman and the generosity of her fellows would just lend itself to potentially more harm than good. And it wasn't even their fault! They likely thought they were being helpful. The woman was looking at her like Kristen was a sheep and she was a shepherd.

Kinship and companionship. Ohhh...Kristen couldn't help but to have an affinity with those who also believed, even if they were not Celestialist. Religion, faith in the something divine and greater than oneself, instilled a goodness not found--

Do you follow the Lord of Light?

The question gave her a moment's pause. In it, those hushed warnings from her mother ushered away her more optimistic thoughts.

"No. I...N-No, I do not," she said, and in the next beat she was quick to add, "Please forgive my ignorance! I am not from these lands, so to my shame I cannot speak on the Lord of Light. I am, ah, nevertheless glad for His teachings of kinship and companionship, though. By the good graces of many a follower of the Lord of Light have travelers enjoyed hospitality and safe passage through Cortos, I'm sure."

Edric

 

[Edric]

"Ah. I see."​

The woman didn't seem affronted by Kristen's denial of her faith, though she shifted in her saddle slightly. The column of soldiers had moved on by now, marching closer to the city and leaving the two women on the empty road.

"I am glad you think so well of Cortos. It is a beautiful place, the people are welcoming of all. As is the Lord of Light. Perhaps you could attend a sermon while you are in town. I understand the Bishop here is quite...extraordinary."​

Her expression did not change as she spoke, save for a small flickering of a smile.

As the two women held a conversation the wheat behind them seemed to rustle slightly. Edric froze just out of sight, frowning as he heard a voice that was not Kristen's. His head turned to the sky, eyes squeezing shut. Dear kress, please don't let this go to shit.

He thought as the woman continued.

"I can get you and your friend a place in the front row. There will be food, and drink after. As refugees I am sure you must be hungry."​

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh my," Kristen said, plucking at the front of her arming doublet. "How raggedy I must look! Ah ha, I'm afraid you've caught me out! Adorned in a refugee's uniform am I: worn clothes and weary spirit and all."

Keep it together! Stop the laughing! Where is Edric? Why does this woman have to be so nice!?

The hand that plucked at her doublet pressed flat to her chest, just over her heart. "I-I wouldn't want to intrude upon your time, Miss. Aionus forbi--"

I slipped a little!

She tried to recover. "Far be it, far be it. Why, there," Kristen said, pointing up the road and after the column of soldiers, "your own comrades have gone on without you. Well aren't they busy bees, heh ha! I'm just..."

Kristen let out a breath (phew...!) that equally could have been her exhaling fatigue after a long journey, or exhaling nervousness in the present.

"...glad to have finally arrived back to civilization! That's all."

Edric

 

[Edric]

The ordinary folk of the Radiant Church were taught kindness, acceptance, and the love of their god. Yet the woman who sat upon the horse was not an ordinary member of the Radiant Church, nor was she a common soldier.

She was of the Solar Choire.

Fanatics and zealots who believed in their religion to such a degree that heretics often burned within cities they controlled. Sene was no exception, and this woman? This woman took on the face of a hawk the moment Kristen's tongue slipped.

Her features shifted almost instantly, hand falling onto her sword as she peered at Kristen. Her tone changed in the same instant, her voice now harsh, cutting.

"Get off your camel."

The words were a command, plain and simple. She did not yet draw her blade, but the threat was more than evident.

"Who are you really? To bring heresy into these lands, I am well within my rights to execute you here and now."

Edric's head fell forward into his palms. Shit shit shit.

The Initiate cursed in his head, fingers reaching back to the stolen curved blade that he was still carrying.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen's hands flew up in surrender, and she hunched over in the saddle, cowering and assuming in the most non-threatening posture she could.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I did not mean to offend! Our trek has been perilous through the desert and through the plains and I'm just relieved to see a city! I do not wish to cause any harm to anyone, none of body and none of mind! If it p-pleases you, I-I-I shall depart at once from these lands and seek better fortunes for my woeful state elsewhere!"

Still Kristen sat upon the camel after her plea was through.

Her head downturned in her cower, the angle shielded her eyes from being seen by the woman. A quick flick down the road, toward the column of soldiers: still en route to the gate. Were they far enough away? She didn't know, she didn't know!

Fear and training wrestled for space in her mind: This was a disaster! Stay calm, consider options. She should have just gone with Edric, it was foolish to separate! In open view of the gates and in broad daylight, a quarrel would be spotted easily. Blessed Aionus, Holy Sentinel! Chains can disable her mount, a Crucifix was too conspicuous, again easily spotted.

One thing both fear and training agreed on: if she got off of her camel, she was as good as dead.

Edric

 

[Edric]

"I said get off the ca-"

Before the woman could finish her sentence there was a flash of something. The air seemed to vibrate, shake almost, and then she looked down. In her horror the woman spotted a long blade that had planted itself in her chest, the tip of the sword punching through her platemail as though it had been thrown with Inhuman strength.

She opened her mouth, either to scream or yell, but all that came from her lips was a spew of blood which splattered over her shining armor. Her fingers slipped from her reins, and she tumbled from the side of the horse.

Before she could hit the ground Edric caught her, seemingly appearing from nowhere. "Grab her horse."

He told Kristen, his voice far too calm for the situation.

"Get it into the field and strip it's saddle." As he spoke the young Dreadlord heaved the woman's corpse, pulling her back into the wheat field that he had come from. Her mouth opened in a blubber, her death throes pulling from her lips as she half reached up to her killer.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen flinched violently when the blade pierced through the woman's armor. A shocked yelp half-escaped her mouth before she could clap a hand over her mouth. She pinched her eyes shut and screamed into her palm, the terrible sound deeply smothered.

She knew Edric was back before he spoke.

It took a long, agonizing moment for Kristen to act on his curt command. As unsteady as a newborn fawn, Kristen swung her leg over her saddle and dropped gingerly down to the ground. She moved stiffly, her eyes only half open and one hand still pressed hard to her mouth, air hissing in and out of her nostrils with each heavy breath. She fumbled for the reins of the horse. Grabbed them. Led the animal into the wheat field as if she were a zombie performing the task at Edric's necromantic bidding.

She didn't strip the saddle from the horse.

Kristen's legs gave out and she tumbled down onto her rear end. And there she sat.

Overwhelmed.

Edric

 

[Edric]

For a few moments Edric didn't pay attention to what Kristen was doing, he was too busy with the woman's body. As soon as he was sure they were out of sight of the road he laid her down onto the ground, wrenching the blade free and laying it beside her.

Then he quickly reached around her waist and grabbed a knife from her belt.

Without a single shred of hesitation Edric pressed the tip of the knife into the woman's throat. He began to carve a rune there, hoping that he remembered the lessons back at the Academy well enough. After a few seconds of carving the rune was complete, and a flash of heat ruptured over the body.

Within seconds the woman's skin seemed to sear, and then begin to disintegrate. It was a trick that all Initiates were taught, a Rune that was meant for the disposal of bodies. It did not get rid of things like armor, weapons, or even ordinary clothes, but everything organic disappeared.

One just had to have the time to carve the damned thing. "Alright did yo-"

Edric cut himself off as he turned back towards Kristen and found her sitting besides the horse on the ground. Her eyes seemed distant, as if she were staring at some vast field of nothing.

A frown pulled over his lips, head shaking.

Slowly he pulled himself up and to his feet, tossing the knife down next to the now empty suit of platemail. He moved towards Kristen, squatting down in front of her. Slowly he reached out, grabbing her face.

"Kristen." His tone was harsh, cutting. "Kristen, listen to me."

He did not yell. Did not scream, but he held nothing back. "I need you to wake up. I need you to be here."

Edric stared into her eyes.

"I need you to be better." He told her. "I don't need you to kill. I don't need you to be me, but I need you here."

His hands made sure she could not look away, that she was peering up at him. "You're the only one I have to rely on right now."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Helpless, Kristen stared up at him. Eyes fixed either on his own or beyond. In them a glistening of tears, building, perched on the lids of her eyes and ready to spill over. The splinter in her mind, waiting to be said, waited no longer.

"I feel like a liar," she said, her voice hollow and distant and utterly tiny.

"That night...in the cavern...when you said you'd make sure I got back. And I said..." a ragged breath interrupted her, "...and I said..."

Her shoulders hitched. Lips pressed into a quivering line, she failed to say again those simple words from nights past.

"...it was just so much easier to say. I felt so powerful. I did. I said it and, oh god, for the first time in my life I felt. So. Powerful."

And then her face contorted terribly, all restraint against the tide failing, her fear of embarrassment in front of Edric no match for the combined weight of everything--for it was more than just this moment. It was more than this encounter with the Solar Choire. Crushing down upon her now were the expectations of her family, the shock of the Academy, her failures in Vel Acan, her continuous shortcomings in sparring and physical training, the horror of blood and death, the nomads who had come for them, Archon Gilram, the scorpion, the Battle of the Blades, her longing wish to see Amelia again, wanting and falling short, the terror, the helplessness, everything.

"And I can't live up to it!"

So the dam broke, and Kristen wept openly, her body jerking with each deep and strained sob.

Edric