Private Tales The Past Returns

[Calliope]

She waved a hand at him dismissively. She just wanted to sleep.

A hot bath had already been drawn for her as she entered her chambers, the lavender salts scenting the air that she breathed in deeply.

"Thank you." she said quietly to the girls who milled around, folding fresh towels, hanging up her nightgown, setting out a tray of various foods and tea. "That'll be all." she nodded. She could tell that Leah wanted to stay back. Calliope trusted the handmaiden as much as she did Xander, but she would not paint a target on the woman's back. If Tal couldn't hurt her, he'd have to find other ways, and having friends wasn't wise.

"That'll be all, Leah. Please, visit Xander for me, ensure he's alright.." she asked and turned away with an ache in her chest. She slipped out of her dress and into her bath to scrub at her skin a little harder than necessary, though she froze as she heard her door click open. Her first thought was of his yellow eyes on her, but she eased as she heard the twins speak and the door close behind them.

 

[Tal]

"All zat time on ze boat together, and ve never once we're allowed close to 'er." It was Sylvie that spoke, though telling the two women apart was nearly impossible.

They moved almost in tandem, gliding more than stepping as they swept into the room. Eyes flickering around the opulence and grandeur, one of the two letting out a small whistle as her gaze tracked over the bed and finally onto Calliope herself.

"Not zomething we are used to, is it Sylvana?" The girl on the left purred. "No, but I sink zis is what mother warned us about."

There was no hint of envy within their tones as they turned their attention on the lounging Princess. "Ze trappings of Golden Cages."

With those liquid steps the two girls walked over towards Calliope. Their dark skin taking in the warmth of the lanterns sitting around the room, the odd wrappings which made up their clothes seeming fresh and newly made despite having spent the same months upon the same ship as the Princess of Tyr.

"Talmanese tells us you are ill." Sylvie said, her sister immediately finishing her sentence for her. "First he keeps us so far away from you, an' now, he calls us to your side."

The girls tongue clicked. "A curious an' infuriating man, no?"

 

[Calliope]

Calliope let out a sharp huff as they spoke of golden cages, but otherwise made no comment. She stood and stepped out of the tub, water rushing from her skin, now marked with healing scars, fading bruises and the runes of blood magic. The proof of her marriage to the infuriating man they spoke of.

"Incredibly." she muttered as she reached for her large bath towel to wrap around herself.

"I have a headache, and my body feels weak. No doubt caused by the long journey, but still, it's growing unbearable. I should like to sleep, but if you have something for the pain, i'd be grateful. And, a rue herb tea, please." she added nonchalantly. The last thing she wanted was to bring a child of his into this world.

 

[Tal]

The two sisters studied Calliope with an intense interest. Close enough that their gazes might have been called leering if it weren't for the fact that their eyes clearly were not focused on any untoward parts of the Princesses bare form.

"We have many zings for pain." Sylvie said, her head tilting somewhat, clearly biting back a question.

A moment passed, and the Sylvana took over for her sister. "Though, we 'ave no Rue."

The two sisters looked at one another for a brief moment, something unspoken passing between the two of them before they returned their attentions to Calliope. "But be assured, Princess. We 'ave a solution for you that will work the same."

A smile touched both the women's faces, and then Sylvie stepped away from her sister. From a small pouch she pulled out what appeared to be a handful of herbs, wandering to a small table in the corner of the room where a tea set was already present.

Sylvana stayed put, smiling at Calliope as her sister began to work her remedies.

"Ze markings, his doing?" She purred inquisitively.

 

[Calliope]

The Princess' eyes sharpened as she looked between the two sisters as the two exchanged their own looks. "Very well.." her head tilted. Whether she could trust them or not, she wasn't sure, but she'd ask Leah to find the rue, to be sure.

"And..I'd rather whatever is discussed in this room to remain between us." her brow quirked, and she forced a smile. Her gaze followed one before returning to the other as the question caused her jaw to clench.

She assumed she was speaking of the runes, and not the fading bruises or healing scars. Either way, every mark was his fault. "I'm certain you already know the answer to that question." Calliope huffed.

"If you don't mind, I have a headache, I need rest." she frowned, striding by to slip into her bed to await her tea, uncaring that her hair and skin still dripped with water.

 

[Tal]

"Curious, not his usual form of magics, eh sizter?" Sylvana continued to watch Calliope closely. Clearly puzzling over everything in her head, musing as though she might have picked up one important fact or two.

If Calliope paid attention, she would see the twin glance down at her own arm.

Sybille meanwhile continued to prepare the tea.

With how she moved and carried herself, one almost would have been able to mistake the twin for servant. Though it was clear with her swagger that she would quickly disregard any such notion. Yet the tea was well made, and the additive within would cure some of Calliope's ailments.

"We cannot lie to 'im." Sybille mused as she carried a large silver tray to the bed. "But nor must do we divulge every truth."

The twin said cryptically, smiling as she began to set out Calliope's tea. Her sister moved besides her, a needle plucked from a small band of cloth on her wrist. "A drop of blood. For a test.

Sylvana prompted with a smile.

 

[Calliope]

Her brow furrowed at Sylvana's response, her gaze falling to her arm as she caught the glance..

"What do you mean?.." she asked with a frown, looking between the two sisters who apparently could not lie to Tal. "What magic does he hold over you?"

Calliope watched them closely, shifting when she saw the needle. Blood was far too precious and far too powerful a thing to give away without question, especially hers. "Test? For what?"

 

[Tal]

For a few seconds the Twins only looked at one another, as if considering whether they should even answer Calliope's question. It seemed, at first, as if they would no answer her question.

"To see if there iz anyzing more seriouz wrong." Sylvana said plainly, smiling as she held the needle but never moving closer to to Calliope. Tal had told them both the sacredness of blood in Tyrian culture.

Mostly for their own benefit. He knew what the twins got up to in the Vaudelay back home, and if he hadn't warned them both would likely have ended up in prison.

"I aszure you." Sylvana continued calmly. "It vill be dizpozed of when I am done."

She smiled comfortingly as her sister picked up where she left off, finally answering Calliope's other question.

"Tal is a clever boy, no?" There was a hint of bitterness to her tone as she spoke.

"Ve attempted to bind 'im. Not too different than he has done vith you, I thinks." Her tongue clicked as she spoke, shaking her head as she mused. There was more to the story of course, but it seemed she was not interested in telling it. "But he turned our magics, and unfortunately..."

It was Sylvana that finished. "Mama Leveau refused to break the spell."

A scowl pulled at her lips, and it was clear that of the two of them Sylvana was more upset about their situation. Though her expression returned to that calm neutrality almost immediately.

"So, ve must serve Talmanese the full year and a day." Sylvie finished finally, shrugging her shoulders as though already resigned.

 

[Calliope]

Serve him?

Calliope glanced at the needle again, her brow furrowed with distrust. Tal may not have been able to kill her, just as she could not kill him, but that did not mean he could not tell another to do it. For all she knew, the needle was poisoned or the blood she took would be used to puppet her.

"I'm quite sure there is nothing more seriously wrong. I need rest." she assured more firmly. Suddenly the tea was less appealing.

She did however note the bitterness in Sylvie's words and the resignation on her face as she spoke. "I see.." she answered quietly.

"I'm sorry." she told them both. They'd had no choice but to leave their home, their freewill nothing to Tal just as hers was. She pitied them for that. "It would be unwise for me to trust any who are bound to serve Talmanese as you are..." she frowned, and her jaw clenched with rage that he would make her feel as unsafe as she did in her own home and with all of the protection she had here.

 

[Tal]

"Zer is nozing to be sorry for." The Twin said with a smile, seeming not at all insulted by Calliope's rejection.

A needle was flicked between two fingers, disappeared between wrapped cloth as though it had never existed at all. Both of the women took steps back, though the way they moved made it appear as though it were the very room which shifted around them.

"Your choices are your own." Sylvie purred. "But, we zink zer is more to your illness than seasicknez."

The woman said with a slight smile. "So, perhapz."

Her twins continued.

"Tread carefully princesse." Sylvana finished as they continued towards the door.

 

[Calliope]

“Wait.” Calliope sat up carefully as she considered the warning, her crimson eyes shifting between them both.

“What do you mean? What do you suspect is wrong?”..

 

[Tal]

Sylvana stopped, her step clicking against the marble flooring as she halted. Lips curled into a thin smile as a shrug slowly rolled over her shoulders. "Zis, we do not know."

Though their magic was powerful, it was not exact. Relying on close contact and an almost constant hold upon the subject. The magics of the Bayou, of the Vaudelay, were almost entirely an anathema to those of the ancient ways of Tyr.

"We treated you." The Witch reminded.

"Touched upon your very soul." For that was what all their healing did. "Zo we see ze difference."

Sylvie purred from behind her sister. "Vat it is..."

Another shrug. There was no telling what the odd illness would be, not without taking a sample of Calliope's blood.

 

[Calliope]

The Princess' skin grew even more pale, if that were even possible. Not only had they 'touched' her soul - a thought that made her shudder - but they saw some difference in it. Her eyes glistened with tears that she refused to shed, and her shoulders slumped in resignation.

"Fine. Do it. But if I discover that you break your word, that you lie to me, or should any harm come to me by either of your hands, the punishment will be just as severe as Talmanese would bestow. I am not some weakling, do not forget that I have power here, nor that I can see lies." her brow furrowed, and she held out her hand expectantly.

 

[Tal]

"Of course, Princez." Sylvie said with a soft smile. "Ve vould never dream of such zings."

Her sister finished, her expression a mimic of the same soft smile.

The needle flickered between her fingers, and with a swift gentleness she leaned down. A silvery point pierced Calliope's flesh for just a brief second, just enough to produce a single drop before the nubian witch pulled back.

Her sister, by the time she pulled away from Calliope, held a small down. It was a facsimile of Calliope, though not in any great detail. The needle stabbed into the doll's felt, and then the two women slowly moved it to a small table in the corner of the room.

There they seemed to watch it for a moment, pondering.

Then suddenly the doll burst into flame. Calliope would feel nothing as the fire almost instantly seemed to consume the doll, burning through it and producing a cloud of white and purple smoke that seemed to mix together and fall apart into an array of colors. "Fazcinating."

Sylvana intoned clearly more to herself than Calliope or her sister.

"Ve have never seen a sing like zis." Sylvie said as she turned back to Calliope. "Zer is zomething wrong, but it is nothing zat he has done, I zink."

The twin said with no small amount of surprise in her tone.

 

[Calliope]

The appearance of the doll was disturbing enough, but she was harrowed by the sight of the needle stabbing into it and a shudder rolled over her. The thing subsequently bursting into flames was enough to call Calliope from bed with a look of panic.

Fascinating!?

"What?.. What does that mean?" she demanded, looking between the two women. "What is wrong with me?"

 

[Tal]

"Ve do not know." The twins admitted almost at the same time, their words overlapping and resounding.

"It is zomething deeper than what he has done." Sylvie said, gesturing towards Calliope. "Zomething of your people, I zink."

One twin looked at the other, both shaking their heads. "Ve cannot tell you more. Your peoples magics are...unknown to us."

There was a hint of annoyance in her voice as she continued.

"Talmanese haz never been...forthcoming." Nor would any Tyrian be. Their people were insular about the magic which ran deep through them. The Blood was sacred, there was no arguing that fact, and in silent collective their people had decided to keep its secrets.

A fact which seemed to frustrate the two women before Calliope.

 

[Calliope]

She stared between them, confusing knitting her brow. The blood rushed from her head, colour draining from her cheeks as she swayed uneasily and reached a hand to grip the bedpost before she stumbled. She was rarely sick - all that was different was Talmanese, and she was certain that he was to blame for whatever ailed her.

The headache pounded loudly in her skull, and she retreated gingerly to bed once again, this time taking up the tea and draining the little cup without question or argument. She had to sleep.

"Thank you, sisters.." her eyes closed as her head sank into the pillows. "But I really.. must..."

Rest.

The next morning bled into the afternoon, and still Calliope had not risen.

 

[Tal]

The doors to Calliope's bedroom burst open. "What have you done with my daughter you Cretin?!"

It was the King's voice that echoed through the room, but it was not he who entered first. Talmenese was practically shoved through the door by a member of the Death Watch Guard, this one a fellow Tyrian instead of one of the Ogres.

"I haven't done anything to her." He lied, stepping into the room and turning on his heel to face the raging King. "The last I saw her she was fi-"

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Calliope laying on the bed.

Her skin was sickly pale, her eyes half lidded, and a subtle sheen of sweat clinging to her skin. The Princess of Tyr looked as though she were on deaths door. "What the fuck?"

Talmanese said, turning instantly, disregarding the King and instantly moving towards Calliope. Confusion, true confusion echoed in his voice and shone through his features. It was obvious Tal had no idea what was wrong with Calli, though it wasn't like he had a reputation for honesty.

"Don't touch her!" The King shouted as Talmanese neared the bed. The guard who had shoved the Prince seeming to instantly appear behind him, grabbing his shoulder with a touch hard enough to bruise.

He nearly turned and backhanded the man, staying his hand only because he knew it would probably get him killed. "I don't know whats wrong with her!"

Tal reiterated. "But I can't help either if I can't touch her."

The Prince said through gritted teeth.

 

[Calliope]

The voices, so distant in her mind, roused her as they grew closer. She had been shaken awake a few times already this morning, but her eyes had not remained open for long, and sleep claimed her deeper still. Now, she was very aware of Talmanese being in her chambers, as well as the bellowing voice of her father.

Her brow furrowed, and she groaned to be left alone. She felt sick. She felt weak. How strong she had felt not so long ago...

In her state of semi-consciousness she had considered poison, though if she died whilst Tal remained within these walls, he would be killed without a trial. It was unlikely that he had a hand in it. She also considered that somehow, the bond that her husband had created between them was somehow reversing, and though she felt like the very life was draining from her, she hoped this was the case.

"Will you all...just let me sleep?" she huffed with a frown at how painful it felt to do such a thing.

 

[Tal]

"For all I know you're the one that has done this to her!" The King said, sweeping passed Talmanes and quickly moving to Calliope's bedside. The King knelt, reaching out and clutching Calli's hand with a soft touch. "Pardon us, darling, we're just trying to find out what's wrong with you."

A frown touched the Prince's lips as he watched the old man, offering so much kindness and caring. "Why would I do this to her?"

He asked.

"She's my wife! I don't want her dead." The King offered him a scornful look, clearly still entirely dubious on the union. He wasn't a fool, that much could be said about him at least. Still, he was slowly killing his own daughter.

Tal ground his teeth as she stood at the bedside, considering just obliterating the guardsmen clutching him with a snap of his finger.

If Calliope died it would threaten everything. All the plans he had laid would be brought to ruin, everything he wanted would be taken from his grasp. He couldn't allow it. He couldn't have it happen. Fingers tightened slowly into fists, and tension drew through him. "You may not like me, but I'm still the most powerful sorcerer in this city."

He reminded the King, not mentioning everything else he'd learned over the last ten decade.

For a moment, the older man simply scowled, and then glanced back at Calliope. Lines of worry creased his face, and finally he relented.

"Fine! Let him go." The guardsman's fingers slipped from Talmanes' shoulder and he quickly moved to Calliope's bedside. Before he even reached her, a subtle glow began to trace over the tattoos upon his body. His hand flickered forward, and he studied his now wife intently.

A frown touched his lips. "This is..."

His hand suddenly snapped back, as though bitten by something. The glow ceasing almost immediately.

"She needs a Blood Witch." The King's eyes opened wide. The Blood Witches of Tyr were an oddity even to the Kings. Born as outcasts and outsiders, the Illani as they were called spent their entire lives studying The Blood. They enjoyed privileges and rights that not even the Nobility could claim.

"Are you saying this is her Gift?" The King demanded, Talmanes answering with only a short nod.

His eyes still fixed on Calliope.

 

[Calliope]

By the time the Blood Witch arrived some hours later, Calliope's state had worsened to pain. Fitful sleep still claimed her despite it, dragging her deeper into the feverish nightmares she now walked in. Sweat soaked her bedsheets and nightdress, her unopened eyes were hollow and dark and her skin, ghostly. She whimpered quiet pleas to the shadows in her mind and sobbed at the pain that seemed to be in her very blood...

 

[Tal]

The King and his wife stood besides Calliope's bed as the Blood Witch inspected their daughter. The woman, who had been summoned from the outskirts of Tyr's lava fields was dressed in a robe of sweeping black and red, her face painted with lines of crimson, and her eyes a deep yellow that ran with thin trickles of broken blood vessels.

Talmanes sat in a plush chair on the opposite side of the lot, his chin resting in his palm.

Though he appeared relaxed, even listless, the truth was that every bit of his body was filled with tension. He knew what would happen if Calliope didn't get better. A man with a guillotine hanging above his head couldn't be at ease.

Yet he forced himself to look it at least.

Staring at the Blood Witch as she softly pressed her thumb against Calliope's forehead.

The woman's eyes seemed to flicker, turning from bright yellow to black as some sort of magic coiled through her. "You!"

Her voice was like a rabid hiss, and her other hand snapped up almost instantly. Gnarled and bony fingers pointed directly at Tal. His eyes bulged open, and he opened his mouth to object but before he could speak the King shouted. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU LITTLE R-"

"QUIET!" The Witch shouted, turning on the King in a rebuke that would have cowed a leviathan. The King silenced himself almost immediately, and the Witch returned her attention to Tal. "Come here. Now."

Her words were like a spell, and the Prince moved from his chair to the side of the bed. "I didn't do anything. This isn-"

Before he finished his sentence the witch suddenly grabbed his hand, and the small ring on her hand opened to reveal a needle. She stabbed it into his palm without a word, and thrust the wound against Calliope's lips.

 

[Calliope]

The voices around her echoed in her mind and crept into her dreams, causing her to mutter and writhe, and at her mother's hand in fear. Her mother squeezed back, her eyes wide as she watched the blood witch summon Tal to Calliope's side.

The moment the crone pressed the Prince's bleeding hand to Calli's lips, tension seized the room in a second of disbelief before her mother gasped and her father's voice boomed out once more.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODS ARE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY OLD WITCH?!!" he demanded and strode around the bed to reach for the woman and Tal both.

Calliope's senses snapped to attention, ensnared by the bead of blood that trickled through her lips and onto her tongue. Her mind stilled, the shadows washed away by crimson. She swallowed, and a hand rose subconsciously, gripping Tal's wrist and halting her father in his stride.

She pulled at the small wound. Two drops, three..four. Her heart raced and her breaths piqued and then slowly settled as her body revived, regaining its strength with every passing second until her eyes snapped open.

 

[Tal]

Tal looked at Calliope with a mixture of disgust and fascination.

He didn't try to jerk his hand away as she pulled the blood from his wound, didn't respond when the King shouted. The Prince seemed entirely fixed upon his wife, watching with a keen interest as her eyes snapped open and the color soon returned to her face.

"The Blood." The Witche's voice was soft, a whisper that only the three of them could hear. "It has taken hold."

She cackled, cruel and quiet, and it was only when she looked up at Talmanes that he finally snapped his hand away from Calliope's mouth.

A shiver running up his spine. "Well, thank you for the...edification."

Talmanes tried to inject the same confidence that he always had, tried to keep the cloak of arrogance that sat on his shoulder. Yet his voice shook ever so slightly. Not in fear, never that, but in confusion. He had never heard of something like this, had never read about it, but then again, he'd never heard of anyone as gifted with the Blood as Calliope.

His fingers curled into his palm, covering the bloody mark, eyes casting to Calliope.

"Seems you need me just as much as I need you, eh my love?" Tal asked with a smile.

 

[Calliope]

Calliope hadn't truly woken, hadn't fully understood what she was doing until the source of the blood that her body had craved was torn from her grasp. She gasped, panting at the air in trembled breaths as she stared at Tal, his glistening blood still painting her lips. Her mind reeled, and she looked around at the faces of shock, amusement and concern of those who stared back at her.

Her blood felt as though it were thrumming in her veins, aching pleasantly and causing her cheeks to flush with colour. It took her a moment to work out what he'd said and what he'd meant by it, and she touched her fingertips to her lips and looked down at the, frowning in confusion at the crimson stain.

The once debilitating headache was barely there at all. Her chills had stopped, and her breaths were deep and unlabored. Her eyes settled on the blood witch, the same one she recalled having told her of her gifts when she was a child. She looked no different now.

No...

"I don't understand.. What do you mean the blood has taken hold? Will she, be alright?" Calliope's mother asked, still clutching at her daughter's hand. Her father's stare was venomous as he stared directly at Talmanes, having understood exactly what the crone had meant. His hand lifted, a finger pointed at the Prince.

"Put that cowardly little snake in the dungeons." he growled, and the guards present approached the Prince to do as their King commanded.