Fable - Ask The Homecoming of Nightmares

[Lyta]

One of them was gone. Murdered, if the messenger was to be believed.

Certainly not the Homecoming any of them had expected.

Lyta's fingers slipped on the rocky outcrop and she uttered a quiet curse as tiny bits of stone tumbled to the ground below her. Her chest hammered in her heart but she ignored it and focused on finding a better purchase on the rockface. Eventually her fingers found purchase and she pulled herself up to the next ledge. She hated how her arms quivered with the effort. When she had been a youth she had raced her brother up the mountains that made up the edge of their peoples territory on the Steppes. She would have hopped from one rocky outcrop to the next without a second thought, trusting in her body to keep her safe. Since carrying the duty of the Dreamstone, Lyta had been able to rely on that body less and less. It had started as naps in the day which she had put down to a poor nights sleep here and there. Now she could be midsentence and would suddenly collapse as the stone dragged her into the Dreamscape where it preferred to play. The more exhausted she became, the less she found the energy to keep her body in shape and so her muscles withered. Her body became weaker. It had happened to all the Guardians of the Dreamstone before her but even the warning hadn't prepared her for how it would make her feel.

Vulnerable.

The word felt more dangerous now one of their own had been killed for his stone. What would Lyta be able to do to physically defend the stone being taken from her?

"My Lady..!"

Lyta cursed again as this time her foot slipped and in doing so knocked the other from the barely passable foothold. Both boots scrambled against the rock face as they sought for a hole or an outcrop on which to gain purchase but nothing suitable felt within reach. She glanced up to the next handhold. If she could get there... Gritted her teeth and ignoring the screaming protest of her arms she swung her hips then heaved herself upwards. Both chalked up hands grabbed the larger ledge and her feet were finally able to find suitable holds. Knowing that if she stopped she would lose her confidence, she ploughed on to the ledge she had set as her target.

"See? I'm fine, Brom!" she called, turning to sit with her legs dangling off the edge. The member of the Vanguard who had been assigned to her today did not look convinced. Indeed it looked very much like he intended on finding a route up to her in order to carry her back down over his shoulder if necessary. Really, if Solomon was going to insist on guards he would have to remind them that they were not prisoners. With a sigh she left him to that puzzle. Lyta had picked this spot specifically because of the challenge of the climb. Instead she took out a waterskin and had a well earned drink.

 

[Stella]

Above Lyta the clouds chugged along, thick and puffy and colored golden by the warmth of the sun. Amidst their numbers, a glimmer shone here and then there. The right eyes would recognize those small but telltale signs of Stella's presence while most all others would hardly notice at all. A swift wind followed, short and blustery enough to catch Lyta's gilded locks.

Then a calm chased after it, settling the air with a low and crooning sound.

Lyta would hear the dragon well before said dragon was even visible to the eye, where Stella settled down upon the ridge behind her and arched her long neck over the young girl to look down at Brom.

"Are you sure this sort of venture is safe for you to partake in, Miss Lyta?" Asked the dragon warmly, "Even I avoid great heights when fatigued."

And Stella could control that much - Lyta could not. She'd seen the girl drop mid-conversation before.

 

[Lyta]

Who was that?

Lyta squinted at the forest that surrounded the mountains. She had sworn she had caught the movement of another red elk or two; other Guardians? Last night at the festivities she had mentioned to several of them she would be taking the heights up here today and that they would be welcome to join her. Her vision was not good enough to pick out features or to tell if they had been red elks with riders at all; it very well could have been a wild herd.

She glanced up at Stella instead with a warm smile.

"When I'm away from the stone, my tiredness eases. It's the only time I can trust myself to do this..." which was a shame as it was a hobby she dearly missed. "I'm sure Brom would have caught me if I'd fallen," though her grin suggested that would have been a hilarious sight to see.

 

[Stella]

Though incapable of truly emoting her innermost thoughts while within her natural form, there was a certain amount of wariness in the strain of the dragon's gaze to the girl's words. Especially after glancing down to Brom, who while capable of protecting the girl when sharing the same ground, she had great doubt of his depth perception.

"Those odds are slim," she replied lightly, "I would feel more confident in this endeavor if I were to join you. Where are you going?"

 

[Ayden]

"Don't worry Stells, she's got me too," Ayden announced as he suddenly appeared from an outcropping. His boots teetered along the edge of a shear drop-off. Even without his stone of air, he seemed undisturbed by the heights he straddled and the consequences leering below.

"So that confidence needs to go from here," one hand went from his hips as he swayed and took a step. Pebbles slipping from the rocks he balanced upon to clatter below. Second hand raised to high above his red-tousled haired head. "To here!"

With one final teeter, he'd finally take a step away from the edge and further onto the safety of the ledge. Hands fell to his hips, chest puffed up as he looked between Lyta and Stella. He could feel Brom's gaze on him from below.

"Oy, where is your Vanguard?"

Ayden offered an innocent, noncommittal shrug, the everpresent smirk twitching on his face.

 

[Lyta]

Lyta half jumped at the appearance of the Guardian of the Air Rune. She hadn't seen any sign of there being another person up here before her; how had he got up here? And without a Vanguard. She grimaced when Brom shouted up and she glanced down to see him with one foot on the rockface. Maybe he would actually climb up here after them.

"I'd check the tunnels," she called back down. "Just in case he's lost... Stella is more than protection enough even without her stone, Brom!" the man didn't look convinced but he also didn't seem to like the thought of Ayden's guard tied up somewhere in these mountains either. In the end he nodded and started off and Lyta stood up, dusting her sweaty palms off.

"There's a lake a little further up, I was going to head there and have lunch," she motioned to the pack. "I'd love it if you joined me - both of you," she glanced to the boy and shook her head with a sigh. "Come on."

 

[Stella]

A fleeting glance of pity fell upon the Vanguard below, one of understanding for his rather impossible mission of maintaining the safety of a Rune Guardian. At one point there had been an effort to assign one to herself, but that quickly proved itself a rather helpless and hopeless task. It was difficult enough to keep up with a land-bound Guardian, but definitively impossible for one that traveled by skies and disappeared on a whim.

Stella withdrew her long neck from the edge, curling it around to the scent of Ayden as he stepped onto the scene. Feet on the ground - how unusual for him. He clearly had left his Rune behind as she assumed most all the Guardians did. The dragon watched the boy with amusement where his height of confidence was still rather low for one of her size.

"A small confidence boost is still a boost," she noted aloud before looking to Lyta and slowly shifting to follow.

She walked with a lopsided gait - terribly unbecoming and against the expected graces of her kind, but it was unavoidable. Grace was difficult with only three legs when you were supposed to have four.

"Ayden I may have found someone who can craft the ... flying contraption you described to me last we spoke. It is a young Dreadlord in the city of Vel Castere."

 

[Ayden]

Id check the tunnels,

"It's not like I tied him up or anything. He just -um- got kinda lost is all. He's fine, sheesh.' Ayden rubbed the back of his neck but any hint of guilt never passed his face. Head tipped back to look up, up, up at Stella.

"A dreddie, huh?" Ayden's light eyes sparked with curiosity as he fell into step alongside someone he would consider an older sister. Lyta-ba-byta. "I guess I should be glad I don't have pointy-ears then huh?" Fingers brushed over his curves and rusty-red hair.

"What did you pack us for lunch Lyta-leet?" Hands jammed in his pockets as he walked, knowing it was a presumptuous question.

 

[Lyta]

"You should still be careful around them," Lyta said with a frown. Dreadlords did not take too kindly to other powerful magic users; they would try to destroy them without a thought if they thought they were a threat and with the stones radiating power... There was no mistaking any guardian was a threat. Even Ayden.

The thoughts of food perked her up though and she flashed the boy a grin.

"Sandwiches, sausage rolls, cheeses, cake," she glanced to the dragon. "And some other sweets."

The path up from the ledge was not an easy one to walk but it felt rewarding - it felt good - that the tiredness she felt doing it was from working her body and not because the stone demanded her attention in the other realm. It could survive without her for a few days. She needed to remember her body - her life - was in this world. There was nothing like the pumping of her blood as she hiked to remind her of that.

 

[Stella]

Stella walked at the hind of the two humans, slowly and carefully picking her way up along the trail. She might've flown to the lake were she traveling alone, but the fondness the dragon held for this particular pair of younglings was strong enough to keep her grounded. After all, she'd miss out on the list of delectable sweets waiting for their picnic to commence.

That got her attention, causing the quills along her neck to flare in interest.

"It would be wise to treat any Dreadlord you meet with caution," the dragon agreed, "I recommend this one only by the recommendation of an elf I met in the city's library. Now on to the more important subject..." Stella arched her long neck forward to assist Lyta up a particularly steep incline of large boulders, "what other sort of sweets?"

 

[Ayden]

Ayden bounced ahead very much like a puppy, his mouth watering at Lyta's food description. A pep in his step. Even without the air stone. The first few hours of giving up the stone, he'd never felt heavier in his life. He imagined it's the closest to feeling sick he'd ever felt. Icky.

He still felt like he was missing something but thankfully, the weighty feeling had passed.

He scrambled up rocks and boulders. Hopping on precarious balances from rock to rock. A glance over his shoulder to make sure Lyta was fine. But he never had to worry with Stella around.

Turning with his chest heaving, he looked at them both. "Okay, I'll be careful." He sniffed. "Who was the elf, Stells?" Color him curious. Man, Stella knew everyone. She'd always been the coolest guardian to Ayden. He didn't understand how some of his other guardians or Somners thought poorly of her just because she hadn't been born in this city.

What fud-duds.

"Uh but there is a problem," Ayden paused as he looked ahead, seeing the sparkling waters in the distance. "What - um - do you think Dreadlords take as payment?"

 

[Lyta]

Lyta gave her scaled friend a thankful smile as she scaled the rubble like ledge. This was harder than last year but at least it wasn't impossible yet. She would pile as much muscle on as she could this week without the stone, perhaps it would slow her deterioration.

"I've travelled a fair bit, so I've brought some sweets back from different parts. I've got a thing called Turkish delight from the west, fire crackers from the North, and mermaid weed from the Cortos coast," the last did not sound appetising at all but the odd black laces had tasted good. "As for what Dreadlords like it's usually money or power. Just keep the rune away from them."

 

[Stella]

Did she say Turkish Delight? The dragon made a low, cooing sound of interest as she carefully picked her way up along the ledge after the girl. The Fire Crackers and Mermaid Weed were of no consequence ... yet. Stella had neither heard of or tried them before.

"The elf did not say," she replied gently as her mind slipped back to that memory, "despite saying a great deal. I had merely asked him where to find a good local tea shop and before I knew it he was on the subject of the young alchemist." Chatty. He had been quite chatty. Not being a particularly social creature, and still learning all the various nuances of human culture, Stella recalled standing and being talked at for quite some time before the elf remarked on wasted time and promptly departed her company.

Most others would have considered it rude. Stella had simply been stunned.

"I suspect the contraption you desire will come with quite a price," she continued on in her level logic, "but you will not know what that is until you ask."

 

[Ayden]

"Well it's not like we get paid a lot," Ayden huffed. Sure, they were taken care of. But their job as guardians wasn't exactly something akin to a wealthy noble or merchant. "I guess I'll just have to see," he lamented and hunched his shoulders for a rare moment of serious thought.

That didn't last.

"Mermaid weed though? I'd try weed," he said a bit too innocently. "C'mon Lytlyt," he said with restlessness as he turned to look ahead the path. "I see the waters of the lake from here and there's even a cliff to jump off of!"

Ayden was definitely going for a swim.

 

[Lyta]

The kid was going to be the death of her.

She was comfortable in the mountain heights but the way the boy jumped from jagged peak to jagged peak made her stomach clench with fear each time. Did he not remember he did not have the stone for the next few days? Stella would be his only saviour if he fell, if she managed to fly quick enough. Bodies fell at an alarming speed from great heights.

Better to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

"What is this 'contraption' anyway?" Lyta asked as she put more energy into her walk, delighted to find she even had more energy to give. "And how much is it going to annoy Solomon?"

 

[Stella]

"Please look before you leap," Stella gently implored the boy as he pushed ahead, "I would not like to repeat the incident in Balport."

"A contraption that will only make the skies more hazardous ... for others," she answer Lyta with bemusement. Stella was not one to push the limitations of magic and, so far as she gathered, what Ayden hoped to accomplish with this project was doing just that. It might spell the end of him ... or someone else.

Still, she enjoyed the scope of it. Humans were incredibly inventive people - second only to the dwarves - and sky contraptions had not seen broad use in a very, very long time. Would this be the era of their comeback? What a time to be alive.

 

[Ayden]

What is this contraption anyway? Lyta asked as she put more energy into her walk, delighted to find she even had more energy to give. And how much is it going to annoy Solomon?

He paused in his exuberant climb and turned, facing Lyta and Stella. That boyish grin that never left his lips twitched wider across them for a moment. And a rare moment of hesitation - as if he was worried about what they would think of his big idea.

"Well, you know how the kids at the orphanage had those roller boards?" Everyone should know. Ayden had first made them and gotten into a lot of trouble. There may have been a teeny bit of destroyed property as he was learning how to turn and build them properly.

BUT EVERYTHING WORKED OUT.

Minus Harington's broken wrist but EVEN THAT, he was so happy with all the attention he'd gotten and he'd gotten to eat chocolate pudding every night in the infirmary. Something they certainly hadn't gotten in the orphanage under Master Portersworth.

"Anyway, I was thinking of finding someone who could make that but y'know, for the skies!" Both his arms raised as did his gaze, smiling past Stella as he spread his hands wide.

"So yeah, it'll annoy Solomon probs more than when he found his bed hammered to the roof of the tower."

I would not like to repeat the incident in Balport.

"C'mon, Stells. That was one time." As Lyta drew nearer he'd bend down and offer her his hand. He'd deny helping her later.

 

[Lyta]

Lyta merely shook her head at the boy; it was hard to believe he was only a few years younger than her. Had she ever been like this? No, her mother would have never stood for it. Childishness was not becoming of a Guardian, that's what her mother would say. Still, a small part of her couldn't help but find that charming about the air guardian for that exact reason. It was always satisfying when her mother was a teensy bit wrong. It made it far easier to live up to her name.

Between the pair of them, Lyta finally made it to the lake that sat cradled in the heart of this particular mountain. Spectacular views surrounded them on all sides of the sloping Steppes. From the vast plains in the distance to the mountains and forest that clustered around their home. The tower of the Guardians could just be made out in the distance as the sun reflect off its brilliance. Nobody could bother them up here. Or at least, the two people who could were currently with her.

Setting down her pack she dug out the picnic blanket and then began to lay out assortments of food; sandwiches, small cuts of stuffed sausage, sweet breads, fruits, and an assortment of treats including those she had already mentioned.

 

[Ayden]

While Lyta set out lunch, Ayden was already stripped down to his skivvies. Shirt and pants deposited on the rocky beach. His pale form could be seen scurrying up a rock cliff ledge. Even without the stone of air, he moved as if he had it. Confidently and brashly.

A scramble here and there and he pulled himself up onto the ledge that looked down at the sparkling waters of the lake below. He still remembered when he and a few others had snuck out of the orphanage to make this trek on the first full-moon. They'd spent hours whooping and jumping and swimming.

Still one of the best nights of his life.

With hands balled into fists at his hip, he crowed loudly and with a boyish grin stretching across his face he ran and jumped off the ledge, flipping once - twice - before diving into the cold waters below.

 

[Stella]

"Do all humans enjoy flopping about in the water like a finless fish?" the dragon asked of her tiny blond companion, her attention split between Lyta's careful picnic unveiling and the haphazard flouncing of their red headed other.

"I do not understand the appeal," she rumbled gently, pearlescent scales gleaming under the afternoon sun.

 

[Lyta]

"Most of us swim a little more... elegantly," Lyta said diplomatically as the pair watched Ayden splash around like... Well, a fish out of water. Still there was something wholesome about seeing a person enjoy something with such wild abandon uncaring of who or what was around them as long as it meant fun was had. She had been like that as a child, until her mother had decided the runestone would be hers next.

She rummaged around in her bag and finally pulled out the last item; a large golden tin with crawling black script on top.

"Turkish delight?"

 

[Ayden]

Ayden was a flouncy fish. He spent a large part of the afternoon climbing back up that cliff and flinging himself off. A few bellyflops to make his pale chest more red than it already was. It wasn't until his fingers turned pruny that he finally decided it was best to leave the lake water and join the girls on the beach.

That and he was STARVING.

Running a hand through crazed-wet ginger hair, he plopped down next to Lyta and went for a sandwich.

"So what were you doing out here all by yourself, Lyts? Dont'cha'know it's a dangerous time for us guardians right now?"

 

[Stella]

"Turkish delight?"

The dragon made a sound of interest, the quills along the poll of her neck flaring as she gently leaned her head down and opened her large maw for Lyta to deposit the treat upon her tongue.

The effect in this form of taste was certainly not the same - dulled even comparatively speaking to a human system of tastebuds. But the concentrated sweetness of the treats still registered and she gave a rumble of approval as she let the Delight melt in her mouth.

"If more dragons experienced the magic of human cooking they may be less inclined to eat them..."

Upon Ayden's return from the water, sopping wet and red in the face from his exuberance, Stella slowly allowed herself to rest a bit easier. Hard to keep an eye on both at the same time, but now that they were here before her she could focus a little more.

"She was not alone for long," Stella interjected warmly, "but Ayden is right. I am still waiting the call for my turn to speak with Solomon and learn more about the fate of the Fire Guardian. It would be prudent to exercise more caution until we know more."

 

[Lyta]

Stella's comment surprised a laugh out of the guardian so much so her hand shot to her lips as though she could somehow take it back. At least she was amongst friends, otherwise someone might think her incredibly rude. The smile lingered as she dropped her hand then faded entirely as both asked what it was she did atop the mountainside and brought back the crashing weight of reality. Looking away from her two companions she picked at a loose thread on the blanket.

"He's dead," she said in a voice so quiet the wind might have snatched away her words entirely if it were not such an unusually calm afternoon. "And the stone is gone, taken by whoever..." her eyes closed. The flashes of her Dreams thundered through her mind. The winding road through the forest, the smell of horse sweat, the sense of panic at being hunted...

"I think... I think I saw what was going to happen before it did."

 

[Ayden]

If Ayden could do a magic trick besides magic related to his stone, it would be making food disappear. It didn't seem like it with how lanky he was but he was usually always hungry. He was on his second sandwich by the time Lyta finished speaking and eyeing a third.

Ayden and caution didn't usually mix very well. Something his two friends here would more than agree with. Neck craned as he looked to Stella before his eyes shifted back to Lyta.

"What did you see? Did you recognize anything from your dream?" Elbows propped on his pale legs as he leaned in closer.