Fable - Ask The Scent of Lost Magic

[Neith]

"Sure.." Neith answered in a sarcastic tone. She wouldn't mention that her current abode, shared with her father, was half the size. Neith was simply used to looking after the old man, and so cooking, cleaning and caring had become second nature. And no, control was not often within her grasp.

She stumbled slightly into the wall as the ship pulled free, about to speak when she heard the alarm. She froze, her gaze settling on Kyril and her skin paling slightly with the rush of dread that fell over her.

"Shit." she breathed. "Wait here." she murmured as she pulled open the door and rushed out onto the deck, the deck hands all having paused in their motions to look back at the city and to their Captain as though awaiting instruction. He didn't seem to know what to do as he stood, puffing on his pipe and grumbling to himself..

"Is there a problem?.." Neith asked. "I really must get my father back to Elbion as soon as possible.." she frowned desperately, looking to the Captain. If she had to pay more for them to move faster, she would.

 

[Kyril]

Ky frowned for a moment, his head tilting as he heard the bells. Had the Duke discovered his trick? It must have been so. He could feel his stomach drop, head tilting backward as he let out a quiet groan.

Whether it was from the pain, or the nerves, he wasn't entirely sure. When he opened his eyes Neith was already more than half-way to the door, her steps so fast that Ky couldn't have caught up with her even if he tried.

Fingers tightened for a moment. "Wai-"

He didn't finish his sentence as she rushed out the door and shut it behind her. The mage shifted uncomfortably on the bed, looking up towards the window. If the ship was stopped they would be fucked.

When Neith reached the Captain chewed on his pipe stem, glancing down at Neith.

His eyebrow perked.

"A schedule, eh lass? Well, I have one too, but I have business in Alven and I can't be disobeying the laws...unless I can make sure they don't mind too much when I return..."​

The implication there was more than clear.

 

[Neith]

"Nonsense, you had already departed when the bells rang - pulling back in will set you back.." she was speaking quickly, too quickly, it was obvious she was desperate and she paused, looking back toward the ringing bells. She could see the dark riders flooding the streets.

"I.." she looked back at him, lowering her tone. "Look I don't have time for this. I'll double it." she frowned. "Else I take my business to another Captain when we dock again." she frowned, her jaw clenching impatiently.

 

[Kyril]

The Captain let out a laugh.

"Yeah sure you will, lass."​

He looked over the other ships for a few moments, as if gauging which ones would actually take such a deal and which ones wouldn't. After a few moments he looked back at her, then reached into his pocket as if feeling the ruby there.

"Triple."​

That was that.

It was an absolutely outrageous price for the journey, but at the very least the man seemed utterly inclined to take it.

"And I'll make sure no one ever saw you. Me nor the crew."​

 

[Neith]

Neith's gaze narrowed. "What are you a fucking pirate?.." she spat. "I don't have triple. I have double, and you can either take it or leave it. It's your pocket, or some other captain." her nose wrinkled with disdain as she folded her arms petulantly.

Prick.

"An' you'll still make sure no one ever saw me - and tell your crew to pay no attention to whatever they might hear in that cabin. My father is not a well man." she frowned.

 

[Kyril]

The Captain grit his teeth, his hand still roaming around his pocket. Double was still a lot of money. Double was still more than enough to make him a rich man. For a brief moment more he frowned, and then he growled.

"Fine."​

He hissed.

There was clearly an anger there, but he would not give up a payday large enough to buy him his own damned farm somewhere nice.

"HOIST THE SAILS! RAISE ANCHOR! FUCK THE DUKE! We have a schedule to keep."​

He gave Neith one last smouldering look, then marched away.

 

[Neith]

She watched him intently as he considered his answer. The word 'fine' causing her heart to fall back into motion and a sigh of relief tumbling from her lips. She straightened, and dipped her chin in agreement to the terms. She did have triple, she had way more than that, but fuck this guy and his extortion. Double was more than enough.

Her gaze narrowed on the Captain's back as he stormed off, and she returned to the cabin, closing the door and locking it behind her before pressing her back against it and pulling in a deep breath.

"We're good." she laughed under her breath and rubbed at her face, muffling a quiet "Thank fuck.." against her palms.

 

[Kyril]

Ky was asleep.

He had tried to stay awake, had tried to force himself to stand up and chase after her. He had wanted to make sure things were okay, that the guards weren't already standing on the deck of the ship and waiting to take him away in chains.

No strength for such thing had been found however.

As soon as he had tried to stand his muscles had given out, an with a merciful tumble he had fallen back onto the bed in a strange splayed out position.

His lips parted with small mutterings every few seconds, sweat pooled from him skin, and a powerful shiver seemed to move his entire body in slow quakes.

 

[Neith]

Neith smirked to herself when she realised he'd fallen asleep and that she'd effectively been talking to herself. She sighed and pushed herself away from the door to shift him into a more comfortable position before bundling the blankets over him and pulling one of the chairs over to the side of the bed.

She sat there for a while, bathing his face with a wet cloth as he shivered and muttered in his sleep, and it wasn't long before her eyes grew heavier too. The water was calm so far, with only a gentle rocking motion that slowly lulled her to sleep where she sat.

 

[Kyril]

Kyril's eyes snapped open, a muted scream parting from his lips as he awoke from his dream. Goosebumps ran over his entire body, and the moment his consciousness snapped back into place he could feel the aching pain through his veins.

His mouth snapped shut, lips thinning in an instant as a whimper cascaded involuntarily through his throat.

Fingers curled over his own skin, dragging at it as if he could tear it away and stop some of the pain rolling beneath it. A breath sucked into his lungs, head whirling as he looked around to see where he actually was. He saw the cabin, the empty bed, then Neith.

For a moment he forgot who she was, why she was here, and then the memories fell back into place.

Slowly his chest rose and fell, drawing in breath after breath, looking up at her from his place on the bed.

She was sleeping within the chair, and in that moment he wished he could at least have put her onto the empty mattress. He was not ungrateful for what she had done, but as he tried to move another wave of pain rushed through him and he could not keep the sound from escaping his lips. "Arghh."

 

[Neith]

Neith jolted awake at the sound he made, her eyes wide, blinking at him as she leaned forward and looked over him. "What? What is it? What's wrong?" she asked rapidly.

Her hands reached to grip hold of his arm as another pressed against his clammy brow, trying to hush him. "Calm down, just try to relax, it'll pass." she assured, her voice shaken with worry.

 

[Kyril]

"I-it's alright." He said as she gently pushed him back against the bed gently.

It was strange. She had such a gentle touch, such soft hands.

Briefly his thoughts flashed to their first meeting. How he had thrown her against the wall, pressed her there. The magic that she had used to cause such pain...agony. It was a stark difference to the care that she showed him now.

What had he done to deserve. "I was j-j-j-"

Ky stammered, a shiver running through him.

"J-just trying to put you into bed." The Mage said, another groan escaping him as pain lanced through his arm suddenly.

 

[Neith]

Neith half frowned, half smiled at him.. "Oh." she laughed under her breath and shook her head at him. "Don't be ridiculous. You'd keel over and we'd both be in a heap." she smirked. "I'm alrigh' here." she assured and slowly let go of him with a sigh.

"I'll get you something for the pain.." she told him, rubbing the sleep from her face as she got to her feet.

The cabin was suffused with the silvery light of the moon that spilled through the portholes. Rok was perched atop the desk chair asleep, and the wood around them softly creaked with the motion of the gentle waves. It was rather tranquil, at least.

 

[Kyril]

Another shiver wracked through him. He wondered if that would ever stop, or if he would get used to it. Ky had read all of the symptoms of Lyrum Withdrawal of course, and he'd experienced the early stages more than half a dozen times.

He'd tried to ween himself off the drug back in Elbion, had even tried to stop cold turkey. Each time he had caved, each time he had just taken more than he ever had before. It had always been a mistake.

Maybe this time it was too.

"Y-yo-" Ky suddenly stopped speaking as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

His head snapped to the side, chasing the shadow only to find nothing there. Lips thinned for a moment, and he glanced back towards Neith before looking at the empty corner once more.

Ky licked his lips. Couldn't be real. No. Just the Withdrawals.

 

[Neith]

She was busy tinkering with her vials and jars at the desk when he spoke, and she looked over her shoulder at him with a soft frown as he stopped talking and seemed to be looking at nothing.

"What?.." she asked cautiously, following his gaze to the empty corner as she returned to his bedside with a cup of water, a jar of green paste and a spoon. She set the water down, and spooned out the earthy mixture with a wrinkle of her nose. It didn't smell the best, nor would it taste particularly pleasant, but it would ease his pain quickly enough and perhaps send him back to sleep.

 

[Kyril]

"N-Nothing." He said with a slight shake of his head, deciding that what he had seen had not been there.

A breath filled his lungs.

"Y-you need rest too." He would not pretend to know how much she had slept, but he was more than willing to bet it was not enough. "I-I-I'll b-be fine for a few h-hours."

As Ky said the words he knew that they were likely a lie. The pain was lancing through him in waves, and now that he had begun to see things...

It will only get worse.

Her words rang in his skull.

 

[Neith]

Her gaze narrowed warily as he evaded her question and she gave a slow nod. "I'll rest if you take this." she murmured and held up the spoon, knowing he wouldn't be fine at all. It would at least help with the pain she knew that he was in right now and perhaps settle him a bit.

"And if I can trust you to do your best to drink on your own." she added. "Last thing we need is you dying of dehydration before we get there." her lips thinned.

 

[Kyril]

He looked at the spoon for a moment as a weary child might look at medicine. Lips thinned, but he leaned forward and took it between his lips.

A face almost immediately pulled across his features, and his lips scrunched in utter distaste of whatever she had just given him. His tongue clung to the roof of his mouth, and he shook his head as a shiver shot through his spine.

A moment more of theatrics, and Ky drew himself together. "I-I-I'll be fine."

He assured her, glancing for a brief moment back to the corner.

"J-just leave me some water." The rest he could work through.

 

[Neith]

She followed his gaze back to the empty corner again, her brow furrowing. Had the hallucinations already started?

"Kyril, it's important to remember that it's only us in this cabin. And Rok. But we're the only things that are real. I've locked the door, the Captain and crew know not to disturb us." she frowned, a hand pressing to his clammy brow.

She sighed and moved the water within his arm's reach and pulled the blankets up a little tighter around his shaking shoulders. "I'll just rest for an hour or so...Just try to relax." she forced a smile at him and got up to drag a blanket to the shabby couch which she flopped into. The raven hopped down to nestle itself under her arm, and she stroked at his wing until she fell asleep.

 

[Kyril]

"Right." He said with a nod of his head. "I know that."

Slowly Kyril looked down at his hand, flexing it for a moment and watching as the tattoo on his inner palm seemed to stretch and fold. It was a useless thing now, for the moment, but he wished that it wasn't. A sigh escaped him.

His head nodded in a slow lull. "I'll remember it."

The words flicked over his tongue, but in truth he wasn't entirely confident in the idea that he would be able to. He'd read the accounts, the studies. He knew what the hallucinations were like.

Still, he forced a smile on his face.

"I-i'll be alright." He said with a breath.

 

[Neith]

Neith's sleep was deep enough that not even the change in weather had woken her. The wind had picked up, and the ship was rocking steadily over the rising waves with the occasional tilt in its gait. Rok was unsettled by it, and took to nibbling on Neith's hair, perched atop her shoulder and making sounds of disgruntlement.

She'd sleep longer than her promised hour, she'd sleep as long as she could without being disturbed or waking naturally as she dove deep into the darkness of her mind and dreamt of their ship going down, of the gems sinking to the bottom of the ocean and her drowning all over again as she tried to reach for them rather than surface for air.

 

[Kyril]

Ky didn't sleep, but he had nightmares.

There was no other word for what he experienced, for what he saw. Shades moving at the corner of his eyes. Hands creeping around his throat, fingers latching onto his eyes and threatening to tear them from their sockets. It was a horror show, a macabre display of what the mind was capable of.

A waking nightmare that he could not shake.

"It's not real." He said to himself as he watched the shadow creep up his body, grasping, digging at his flesh."It's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

Ky did not even notice that his voice was steady for the first time in hours. Didn't even notice that the pain had disappeared. All he thought of was that shadow, slowly creeping over him, slowly grasping at his flesh and threatening to tear away at his veins. "It's not real."

He said the words even as he felt claws drag through his skin, digging into him, tearing at his flesh.

His own fingernails doing the work of unseen demons.

 

[Neith]

Rok tugged and tugged at her hair as Neith's breaths piqued, the bird unsettled by both her nightmares, and Kyril's. The raven eventually nipped at her face, and Neith jolted from her sleep and swiped angrily at the bird who puffed out his feathers in defence. She'd been about to launch a cushion at him when she noticed Kyril clawing at himself, and she stumbled from the couch and rushed to his sides to grip hold of his wrists.

"Stop stop stop." she grit out as she tried to wrestle his arms to his sides, her eyes finding his. "Kyril - you're hurting yourself." she growled.

"Fucking hell."

 

[Kyril]

His head snapped up, looking at her. A part of him recognized the face that he saw, but it seemed to move...shift. There was something about it...like it was changing every second that he looked at it. "It's not real."

Kyril repeated.

The muscles in his arms flexed for a moment, dragging away from her touch before he slowly relented. Blood poured from one arm in a steady drip, staining the white sheets beneath him as she pinned his arms to the side and away from himself.

"It's..." He looked down at his arms, frowning for a moment, then looked up at her. "Is it real?"

Ky whispered.

 

[Neith]

Her knuckles paled as her grip tightened on his wrists, feeling that pull before he succumbed to her hold. She wasn't exactly the strongest of people, but with his frailty she hoped she could hold him. Her brow furrowed as she looked over the damage he'd caused and her head shook slowly.

"No. It's not real." she answered, her voice a soft hush. "You're safe. Now breathe." she beckoned, taking a deep breath in and letting it out, urging him to do the same with a nod of her head.

"It's just us. Nothing else." she whispered, not quite willing to let him go until she was sure he had calmed.