Private Tales The Monster and The Burning Heart

[Olvir]

Olvir's head was still spinning, fingers drawn into tight fists as he took a deep gasping breath. "Kress."

He swore in a whisper, his head slowly beginning to shake. After a moment he forced himself to let go of the sheets, slowly pushing himself up onto his elbows just a second later. Sweat still visibly beaded on his forehead, his skin pale. "We...Yeah."

Ollie said, bringing a hand over his face. Pinching the bridge of his nose.

"That fucking thing better not be over the river." The Noble said. "Or I have to get a lot better at chopping off hands."

Trik looked at the two of them in confusion, but Ollie didn't elaborate.

A joke was the only way he could even begin to process what he'd just seen.

 

[Zael Castomir]

Zael got up and sat on the edge of his bed.

"You think that was it? The Stalker? Or...?"

For all Zael knew, this was Ollie's dark Tarrow forest, the thing which kept coming back into his nightmares from time to time to make sure he slept like shit. Maybe it was. He didn't know if he hoped that it was or hoped that it wasn't though.

Still, this wasn't even touching on the other thing in their dream. That mask.

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ollie shook his head. "I don't know..."

The noble lamented, panic still flickering through his chest as he forced himself to take deep calming breaths. Trik looked over the two boys with no small amount of concern in his eyes, clearly worried about what the two of them had experienced.

"It looked..." His head shook. "It looked like my dad, the face at least, but it was...wrong."

Lips thinned. "Stretched out and..."

Ollie swallowed hard, not quite able to finish the sentence. What the hell had that thing been? Just an amalgamation of all the terrors and fears hidden in his mind?

"Kress, whatever it was, I can understand why no one in this down sleeps well." He contended, rubbing a hand over his face.

 

[Zael Castomir]

"Your dad, huh," Zael said. Seemed fair to say that Ollie and his old man didn't get along so well; maybe it wasn't that many steps above the relationship Zael himself had with his own dad. Guess the real question was whether the Stalker played a part in teasing it out of him, lucid dreaming or no, or if Ollie had a lot of things to work through on the family front.

But those were problems half the world away.

I can understand why no one in this town sleeps well.

"Well, with an appraisal like that, I'd say we did the job of bein bait pretty damn good." Hopefully the Stalker was sufficiently enticed. Kress knew whether or not it was so, but they were going to find out for themselves whenever they got to Rostok.

Zael stretched his arms up over his head. Said, "Maybe we ought to go knock on our friends from Elbion's door. Invite them over here to breakfast or somethin. Get cozy. Strategize and what not."

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

For a few seconds Ollie seemed only to sit there. Teeth sunk slightly on the inside of his lips, chewing for a brief moment as he contemplated what had happened in that dream. In his chest he could feel his heart beat slightly faster, a confluence of thoughts rushing through his head.

"Ollie?" Trik's voice snapped the Noble out of his trance, head immediately turning towards the giant of a man.

"Yes." He said with a quick nod. "I think that's a good idea."

Whatever they had seen last night, whatever the Stalker was, they could beat it. Olvir had to believe that, had to. A long breath dragged into his lungs, and finally he stood up and off his best, snapping up the sword he'd laid against the bottom post almost reflexively.

The blade, though still sheathed, felt right in his hand. More so than it ever had before. "Let's get going, Yuna's probably missing you something awful."

Ollie jested, trying to set his mind to something less daunting. If only for a moment.

 

[Zael Castomir]

"I have that effect on people, yeah," Zael said, grinning indulgently. He got to work strapping on all of his armor, and it wasn't long until he was ready to head out.

By chance as he and Ollie were stepping out of their room, Auntie was in the hall making to enter her own. When she saw them she smiled, though it was clear that this smile was made a bit fragile by a lingering worry even though she could clearly see that both Zael and Ollie were at least well enough to be on their own two feet.

"Well, how did it go? Are you boys feeling o~kay~?"

She really drew out the okay, making her affection and concern for their well-being that much more palpable.

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ollie smirked at his friend as the two of them stepped out of the room, almost immediately running into Auntie Sarah. Her expression one of cautious curiosity mixed with nothing less than utter concern. "It went..."

He frowned for a brief moment as a flash of the monster he had seen flickered over his vision. Lips pressing together in a thin line.

"I don't think we'll have any problem finding the Stalker." The young Noble said, clearing his throat and running a brief hand through his hair. "We're just off to go make some more plans with the students from Elbion."

Ollie explained. "After that?"

He glanced at Zael. "I think we'll head across."

 

[Zael Castomir]

Zael jerked a thumb toward Ollie, wordlessly underscoring his assessment of them not having a problem finding the Stalker. That testimony and the fact they weren't, oh, well, Zael didn't know, raving lunatics or something, driven mad with fright from the nightmares ought to be plenty enough for Auntie.

And it was. Sarah, satisfied with them, said, "Oh, lovely, more company! I'll have your masks ready for you before we even step foot on that boat. Don't be too long with those Elbioners."

Masks. Yeah, that was right. Rostok was apparently choked with poisonous gas from a fire burning under the ground, so the tales went. He took the time to wonder if Everleigh could survive in Rostok no sweat without a mask. Maybe. Probably. He ended up wagering that it worked probably like his own Fire Immunity, except with poison in her case.

Down and out of The Limansk, the morning light gave them long shadows as they got onto the street. Zael said to Ollie in a musing, the thought just crossed my mind sort of way, "You ever think about just...not goin back sometimes?"

He flourished a hand out before them, indicating Grishino as a whole, the Allir Reach as a whole, hell, Epressa as a whole. Where they were, and more to the point where they presently were not.

"Just leavin it all behind. Everythin awful in Vel Anir, you know, just...puttin it all to your back as you stride off into some new sunrise."

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

The fear and memories of the night before began to fade as Ollie and Zael made their way towards The Limansk. Cut down by the sun, and time. He doubted that thing could ever be forgotten, but even a few moments out in the light helped stir the memory in with others.

By the time Zael made his preponderance, Ollie was thinking of the day ahead, and not the night before.

His head turned towards his friend. A slight frown pulling at his lips for a moment as he wondered what had brought the thought to the forefront of Zael's mind. "I have."

Ollie admitted quietly.

"My father sent me away for a few years." He explained. "First to Dornoch, then Alliria for a little while."

Not for Olvir's betterment of course, but because he'd been coming up on the age where Guard service was required. His father had simply said; 'I already lost one goddamn daughter to those fucks, I won't lose a son. Even if he's barely mine.'

Those words had cut deep. "There was a time where I thought I would never come back, that I was better off there."

 

[Zael Castomir]

Zael nodded in understanding of Ollie's answer.

"I liked Elbion while I was there," he said. And despite him and Delaney going streaking, apparently the "cultural exchange" was enough of a success that the Academy agreed to send another one later on.

"You know what's funny? Yuna, Gier, Herrim, all those students at their College...they have to pay to be there. Pay. Can you imagine that?"

He let the question hang in the air for a moment, just let that stark difference between the Academy and the College speak for itself.

"When you were in Dornoch and Alliria, how'd it feel? Compared to home sweet home."

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ollie could very well imagine it, given that his own family had paid for him to attend school in both Dornoch and Alliria. Another facet of noble life which he supposed Dreadlords never even got close to understanding. He wondered if Zael even realized that most peasants barely knew how to read.

An odd privilege granted to Dreadlords was an actual education, one denied to most Anirians until they joined the Guard. How odd that was. "It felt..."

He frowned for a moment, musing.

"Good." Ollie had reflected on that time more than once. How it would have been easier to stay. "I was away from my father, my brother. My teachers recognized me when I did something, I made friends, people who saw me as more than my name...it was..."

Olvir shook his head. "In a way, it was a lot more comfortable than home."

 

[Zael Castomir]

"Ain't that somethin," Zael said. And for a moment more there were just the sounds of them walking, the sounds of Grishino in the early morning, the sounds of Arethil as a whole waking.

At last he said, "What's the use of dreamin? I'm gonna be in the military when I graduate anyway. Don't got a choice in the matter." He couldn't know it yet, but this was the same sort of resignation to the inevitable that Ralene would come to express to him on the Last Day before graduation. And, as if it left some sort of bitter taste in his mouth, this resignation, or perhaps to smooth over a gloomy subject with his friend, Zael grinned and said ostensibly with a lightness of heart, "I'll never run out of fights there, huh? That's all the military does, after all. Perfect place for me to be honest."

The Drunken Stag, wherein were Gier and Herrim and Yuna, was up ahead.

"How was your time in the Guard, Ollie?"

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Olvir smiled, almost offering Zael the small platitude that he could always choose exile or reserves, but almost instantly knowing that even that small gesture would mean nothing.

He was under no illusions.

Dreadlords found themselves in a no-win situation. Raised to fight all their lives in brutal condition and then faced with a choice that was no choice at all. It wasn't right, something Ollie came to understand the more time he spent around any of the Initiates.

His step faltered for a second as Zael's next question came. "I...uhh.."

Shame flickered through him.

"That's a long story." Ollie said quietly, the unease more than a little clear. "I didn't...my father..."

He shook his head, realizing now more than ever that he didn't want Zael to think less of him. A long sigh drew from his lips, and he stopped for a second. "I haven't done my tour."

Ollie said.

"My sister joined the Corsair's, was a Captain for a while. I was going to follow after her but my father..." An image of the monster from the night before flashed through his mind. "My father threatened to drag her out if I went in."

That was a kind way of putting what Sebastian Weiroon had said to him. The bastard had threatened to have his Dreadlords pull Aisling out 'bloody and broken' if Olvir tried to join the Guard. "Said he lost one child to the Guard, and even if I was half-useless he wasn't losing another."

He shook his head, finding himself unable to meet Zael's eyes. "So I agreed to leave, and after I did I guess he paid the right people and no one ever asked any questions."

 

[Zael Castomir]

I haven't done my tour.

Zael came to a stop when he heard Ollie say this, and his face was one of pure incredulity, as if he simply could not conceive of the idea that it was possible for anyone to skip out on their forced obligation to the Guard. This expression he wore throughout the duration of Ollie's explanation, not even noticing much of the shame that had worked its way into his friend's face. For all his recalcitrant ways, it simply did not occur to Zael (indeed, could not occur, for the Academy's old methods were persuasive to the utmost degree) that the supreme authority of the Vel Anir could be denied.

"Huh..." he said at the end of it. And though he could not know it now, and though this small interaction was not the proximate cause of what would come to transpire, nevertheless the seed had been planted, and the bloom of this seed was the realization that Vel Anir was not all powerful. That he could make his own choice, and take onto himself all of the consequences thereof.

"Ain't that somethin," Zael said again. Though the words felt a little flimsy even to him, it was the best he could do in his baffled state to smooth over the conversation.

Fortunately, the Drunken Stag was before them now. Zael put his hand on the door.

"Well, tell your dad I said he's a cunt."

He didn't know if that smoothed it over any better, but he thought it was kind of funny.

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

He had expected a rebuke. An insult or anger.

It was a deep source of shame, having never shared in the same burden as every other Anirian. He felt less than, as though he were not truly one of his people. Worse than that, the option had been taken from him.

The fact that Zael didn't seem to resent him, that he would even joke about it sent a spark of warmth through his chest. He looked up at the Initiate, the man whom Ollie without a doubt now considered as a friend, and smiled.

He said nothing, but simply took a step forward and embraced Zael.

 

[Zael Castomir]

Here it wouldn't be uncommon for any of Zael's fellow Initiates to simply freeze, to be caught in a situation they simply couldn't comprehend and were therefore bereft of any idea of what they ought to do. But Zael, for one, knew enough about his past life before the Academy. He knew implicitly what he wanted, what he would like to have, because he felt so keenly its lack.

Zael returned the embrace without question nor hesitation. He clapped Ollie on the back a couple of times.

"Everything's good, man. Everything's good."

And he had the biggest smile of brotherly affection on his face all throughout.

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ollie clapped Zael's back a few times in return, the universal signatory of men holding back some unsaid emotion.

The young noble cleared his throat, pulling away from Zael and offering him the same warm smile back. "I uhh..."

He tipped his head in a nod.

"Thanks." Was all that he could say. Guilt still hung around his neck, and likely always would, he knew. The fact of his non-service had always made him feel off, as though he were an odd-one out, as though he weren't truly Anirian. Perhaps a fact of why he tried so damned hard. "Let's get inside, eh?"

Ollie said with a gesture to the tavern. "Don't want to keep em waiting."

One in particular, was probably already upset it had taken them this long.

 

[Zael Castomir]

"Yeah," Zael said, and it was here that he was struck with the pervasive feeling of simple happiness. He was glad to have been selected for this mission in a way that he just couldn't remember feeling for other missions throughout his time at the Academy. But perhaps he better not get too ahead of himself, for they still had yet to actually get into Rostok. Yet this one trepidation was the sole of its kind, small and quiet, and overwhelmingly Zael felt that he and Ollie could overcome anything and everything in front of them. Get in, get the Burning Heart, and get the hell out...maybe convince Auntie to take her time on the return trip to Vel Anir.

Zael ascended the stairs inside the Drunken Stag. Went to the end of the hall. Knocked on the students' door. Gier answered it again. Behind him, Herrim was sat on his bed, meticulously checking and rechecking a bunch of scrolls before rolling them up and placing them inside of his satchel. Yuna, meanwhile, had on a strange looking mask, like a plague doctor's mask with a truncated, rounded-instead-of-pointed beak and large, almost insectoid eyeholes, and she was running around in circles with her arms held out to her sides and didn't seem all too concerned with their coming endeavor.

"Olvir. Zael. Good to see you," Gier said. "I'm actually glad we're going to work together. Got the chills last—"

"They're here!" Yuna practically tore off her mask and rushed up to the door, trying to butt Gier out of the way and failing and settling on standing beside him. "You're gonna keep me safe, right?"

(Herrim, in the background, seemed indignant, "Hey, what about us??")

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ten minutes ago Ollie wouldn't have been able to say if he was going to be able to keep himself safe.

Now? Now he was feeling pretty good.

A restless night of horrid dreams washed away by a single moment with a supportive friend. Someone whom he'd met only a short few weeks ago, but had bonded with to a point that Ollie would never have suspected. Even knowing where they were going, what they were going to face, the young noble felt better knowing that he'd go there with someone like Zael at his side.

"I'm sure between all of us we'll be perfectly safe." Olvir said with enough confidence that someone might have actually believed him.

"We saw the…" For a moment he trailed off, thinking about the monster in his nightmares. "Stalker last night."

An event that still sent goosebumps crawling up his spine. He already knew it would haunt him, even if they managed to kill the fucking thing. There was no way he was getting the vision out of his head. "So hopefully it's plenty enticed."

That was the least they could ask for, given the horrors of last night.

–

 

[Zael Castomir]

Gier shivered, and then said, "So you did it then?"

"Yeah, and it was just about as pleasant as you might expect."

"That's why you should have had me there," Yuna said, and she held out and flexed a tiny arm. "I would have put that thing in a headlock! Grrr! Then the three of us could have spent the rest of the night—"

"Rest assured," Zael interrupted casually, speaking to Gier and mostly ignoring Yuna. "We rang the goddamn dinner bell alright. That thing's gonna be comin for us. You want specimens or whatnot from it? This is your chance."

Gier nodded. Yesterday, admittedly, he had some doubts about working with Anirians, if for no other reason than...well, his own blood and ears. But these Anirians at least didn't track with the many stories he'd heard from kin in the south, down in Falwood (born and raised in Elbion, Gier knew nothing of their struggles other than from word of mouth). Zael and Olvir put themselves at substantial risk, effectively doing what Herrim had been planning to do yesterday, and though they could have simply undertaken this risk and used it solely to their own advantage, they were making good on their word and seemed to trust in the alliance they had formed.

"Splendid," he said. "Yuna." He looked back into the room. "Herrim. Collect your belongings. We cross the Sayve with the Anirians."

"Oh goodie! (dibs on Olvir's arm!)" Yuna said, setting about packing up and making ready.

"The rest of the class won't have anything of compare!" Herrim said excitedly, doing the same thing.

"This'll be profitable for both of us," Zael said to Gier, then glanced Ollie's way.

A carefully hidden sentiment in his glance: man, was it going to suck backstabbing these three.

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Only didn't even bother to object to Yuna's yelled whisper about his arm, instead taking the moment to catch Zael's eyes and revel in the shared guilt.

His lips pressed thin.

A part of him wondered if there was some way that they could all end up happy, but that was unlikely. His father had made himself very clear. There were expectations here to be followed, and that didn't even mention Auntie and all the people in the Caravan.

Those people had to be paid. His father had taken care of the preliminaries, obviously, but everyone there expected to get theirs. No ifs or buts about it.

At the end of the day Zael and Ollie had a job to do, they couldn't just…not do it. Not when that decision might tumble down into three other bad ones. Taking a long breath Ollie took a few steps back. Making himself small as the Elbioners gathered their things and prepared themselves.

A short while later the small group broke out of the tavern and Into the streets.

River boats were already lining up on the banks of the river, preparing to ferry over everything from treasure hunters to fools. Sarah was already standing at the docks along with Trick, the two of them holding some small conversation when Ollie and the others arrived. A small wave was offered by way of greeting, "Think we're ready to go."

Olvir said, glancing across the river. Trying not to let the cowardice he felt in his chest shine through.

 

[Zael Castomir]

The Grishino harbor couldn't hold a candle to a place like Vel Luin, obviously, but today was a busy enough day for the small locale. All those interested parties, from all the solo treasure hunters and monster hunters and contract adventurers to the organized groups, the Allirian mercenaries and the Tyrian ogres and goblins, were arranged at separate piers. Boatmen who were, by the local standard, crazy enough to ferry them across the Sayve to Rostok were busy taking payment and loading gear onto their vessels.

It was almost as if through some unspoken agreement that everyone decided on going the same day. Maybe no one wanted anyone else to get a "headstart," however that might manifest in such circumstances as these. Or maybe there lay underneath in the subconscious of all involved the knowledge, the hope, of safety in numbers.

Regardless.

"Ollie! Zael!" Auntie said, waving them down the moment she saw them. Her eyes passed over their Elbionese escort, but primarily she was concerned with the two of them. Those from the caravan who were the fighters, like Trik, were all prepared, armed and armored and each and every man among them wearing those strange masks, looking mostly the same as the one Yuna had worn.

Sarah produced two masks herself, one in each hand and holding them out to Zael and Ollie.

"Funny inventions, these," she said. "Modified masks, inspired by plague doctors, fit for the purpose of going into Rostok and surviving, so I've been told. The poison air there kills everyone."

"I wouldn't say everyone," Zael remarked with a small smile. Ever could probably run a marathon around Rostok.

"Try them on," Sarah prompted. "Make sure they fit snuggly. Snuggly. It's going to be uncomfortable, but that's better than...well, you can imagine."

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Ollie took the strange contraption, turning it over in his hands a few times.

The ingenuity of mankind, well, he supposed all species never ceased to amaze him. What people could come up with and built was absolutely startling. During his time in Alliria he had visited a city called Adro. The place had been a marvel of scientific engenuity, Ollie had seen things there he'd thought only possible with magic.

A smile touched his lips as he hoped the mask was as well made as things were in Adro.

Without a word he began to fit the mask to his face, finding the inside of it far more comfortable that he would have thought. Adjusting the straps Ollie took a deep breath, ensuring the 'seal' around his face was tight. Auntie smiled, giving him a big thumbs up and saying something that sounded slightly muffled.

"Communicating is going to be a bit harder!" Ollie called, sounding equally muffled.

The material of the mask was dense, and the tubes and leather straps didn't help. One also couldnt see for shit in the peripheral. Something that would be a problem if they got Into a tight spot.

Gently tipped up his mask, letting it rest on his head as he took a deep breath of fresh air, Ollie shook his head. "Should've been practicing with these things on."

He remarked idly.

The stalker would already have them on the back foot, the last thing they needed was another hindrance.

"Ah well." He said with a sigh, knowing there was little he could do to change things now. "We ready to cross?"

No point in stalling any further.

 

[Zael Castomir]

Muffled voices were going to be the complicating factor here, huh? Wearing the mask and also having a solid helm on would've made it impossible to communicate without the aid of some other little magic gizmo.

"Fuck," said Zael from behind his fitted mask. "Remind me not to become a plague doctor, this shit sucks."

Zael tipped his mask up in a similar fashion to Ollie, his hair being smoothed back from it, taking in a nice and satisfying gulp of fresh, real air.

Sarah glanced over her shoulder at their particular boatman once Ollie asked his question, and the boatman, too far away to have heard but sensing the question nonetheless through Sarah's glance, gave her a thumbs-up (and a big grin that was shy a few teeth of being complete).

"Good luck you two!" she said to Ollie and Zael. "I'll see both of you boys when you get back here."

"Not coming with us?"

Sarah laughed heartily. "Ohhhhh no, not me! I might be young enough to string together a caravan or two, but I'm a little too old now for a lot of that rough-and-tumble stuff, if I can avoid it. But don't worry." She patted Trik on one of his massive, armored arms. "I told Trik he won't get to try any of my peach cobbler pie if you two don't come back in pristine condition!"

Zael looked up to the big man, grinned, then said in parting to Sarah, "See you soon, then."

As they were all boarding the riverboat, Yuna, with an intense curiosity, asked of Ollie, "Was that your mom?" And, after some spark of possible realization went off behind her eyes, she snapped her gaze to Trik and asked specifically about the "peach cobbler" Sarah had mentioned, "Was that a euphemism??"

Olvir

 

[Olvir]

Trik almost immediately turned a shade of red that Ollie had never seen on him before.

"No!" The Ogre of a man retorted almost instantly. He looked to his ward, clearly searching for some word of support as his head shook. Hands coming up to offer some protestations as well, which only made the Nobles suspicions slowly begin to rise more and more.

"I wouldn't do something, like that, not on a mission." He exclaimed. "I have children!"

Trik said, looking at Ollie again. "Yes…but no wife…"

The noble interjected, causing Trik to turn an even brighter shade of red. Which forced Ollie to burst out into laughter. Trik's wife had passed away almost ten years ago now, during the birth of his second son. He had loved her dearly, and loved his kids even more. That was why the bodyguard worked for the Weiroons. He saw his son's less this way, but provided for them better than he could ever hope to otherwise.

"Enough of this!" The Ogre stammered, waving a hand and taking a step away. "We have a river to cross and a monster to fight! Stop joking around you…"

A long sigh escaped him. "Ollie who even is this?"

Nearly doubled over in laughter, Olvir was finding it rather hard to answer the question. His chest heaving up and down as he gasped for breath, a hand on Zael's shoulder as he kept himself on his feet.

"She's…haha…her name is Yuna." He explained, dragging in a long breath. "These are the guys from Elbion."

Olvir said, Introducing everyone in turn as he motioned for them to head towards the river boat.