Fable - Ask Through the Veil..

[Katja]

She couldn't help but notice how small her hand felt in his either, and yet rather than feel fragile she felt safe with it housed within his. His skin was soft and warm and she felt a strange static run along her arm and down her spine, causing a slight shudder despite not feeling the cold of the outdoors.

As he spoke of the creatures that would harm her she didn't appear in the least bit afraid. She was too busy watching the snowfall and studying her surroundings. She was too busy enjoying the comfort of his hand and the rumble of his voice to be afraid of what it was saying.

Her lips curled as he claimed to prefer watching the wildlife than hunting it. It was unlike a male to say such things, but she liked that he did. "I do too.. Though of course, sometimes hunting is necessary." her lips twisted, and curled into a warm smile as she followed his fingertip toward the owl in the tree. She'd been about to comment on how beautiful it was before the light caught her eye and she drew in a quiet gasp, her smile bright as she watched it flutter around.

She didn't realise that she'd been leaning into him as she watched it, not until it circled them and she looked up at him as it disappeared behind him.

"I feel like I could live here a thousand years and never understand it." she let out a nasal huff and smiled sheepishly as she straightened herself.

 

[Ariel]

Ariel smiled at her closeness. Just a few hours ago she had been positively hostile, refusing his food when she was starving and his warmth when she was cold. Now they seemed almost as friends.

Almost.

“Faerie society has been here ten times that long and still doesn’t,” he agreed with her. This part of the woods he knew well, and it wasn’t too dangerous being so close to the mortal barrier. Magic seemed thinner out here, and the most mysterious of beasts clung to the inner levels of Underhill. All the same, there was always the chance for surprise.

“Don’t move,” he said suddenly, letting go of her hand to place it firmly on her shoulder and lock her in place. The warmth was gone from his face, and his eyes were darting around so quickly they seemed to blur in his sockets. “Do not make a sound,” he said in a hush and removed his hand, standing straighter.

Katja might have felt a warm tingling or a buzz as he put the glamour over her. The other human’s he’d done it to described it like being under a gauze blanket, so light that they barely felt it’s touch. To the outside world Katja was no longer by Ariel’s side, and a subtle flick of his fingers wiped her footprints from the snow behind them.

“It is unusual to find you strolling so early,” said a voice deeper and harsher than Ariel’s. If Ariel’s voice was a stream then this one was tumbling stone, and it belonged to a tall, muscled, dark-haired fae who approached from behind a thick tree. “You are usually still asleep at this hour, or at least still lounging about in the cabin with your feet by the fire.”

“Only when you’re around Lysander,” Ariel replied with a snide tone of his own. “The woods is calmer when you’re away.”

He had heard the man appear, felt leylines vibrate as he leapt through them. He hoped he had hidden Katja quickly enough. Lysander hadn’t seemed to notice, and he hoisted something from behind the tree over his shoulders.

It was a boar, or close enough to one. The tusks were azure blue, as were the dead eyes weeping blood. It was easily eight feet long and likely weighed more than a horse, but Lysander bore the weight as though it were a sack of flour. It’s stench would be offensive to Katja even from this distance, and Ariel wrinkled his much more sensitive nose as the sneering fae approached.

“The woods is never calm,” he chided. “Now prance off less you get guts on your pretty—“

He stopped and stared directly at Katja. Ariel felt his pulse quicken, but Lysander turned back after a moment and continued his return to the lodge. “I’ll try not to make the place too messy.”

Ariel watched him walk away until he was well out of sight. Only when he was sure that Lysander had gone inside did he drop the glamour hiding Katja from view.

 

[Katja]

She'd been about to speak when he put a halt to the conversation and her lips snapped shut. She stilled, suppressing a shudder at the sensation of magic draping itself over her. Her eyes snapped to the large male as he spoke, her breath catching in her throat. When he didn't seem to see her, she realised what Ariel had done and she frowned as she watched the exchange without making a sound.

Ariel had made her feel safe, and she realised her mistake. He'd been the first fae she'd met, and she hadn't considered that he might not have been able to keep her safe here, even if he'd wanted to. At least now, it did seem that he wanted to.

Her nose wrinkled as an icy breeze carried the pungent aroma of.. whatever that was, and whatever it was smelled like it'd been decomposing in a pile of shit for a few weeks. Her stomach churned uneasily and she swallowed the urge to gag, but when the male looked directly at her, she felt her heart stumble. She realised that since crossing the wall, she hadn't been this truly afraid until this moment. She hadn't wanted to be back on the other side of the wall as much as she did right now.

She felt dread trickle like ice water down her spine as the male turned to head in the direction of the lodge, though she waited until he was out of sight before turning to settle a worried gaze on Ariel. "My clothes.. My bow." she frowned, doubting that a bow with a quiver of ash and iron arrows would belong to any of the fae kind..

 

[Ariel]

“It will be fine,” Ariel assured her. “That lodge protects its dwellers. It will hide your items.”

He had no idea if that were true. Yes, the lodge did have an enchantment to protect its dwellers, meaning that the doors would lock against those with hostile intent, or maybe it would hide the odd item that could invite embarrassment, but would it hide weaponry? Lysander was a dweller, too, much more than Katja. Would the lodge side with him or Ariel? Would it even consider Katja? Perhaps it would see the items as threats that must be revealed…

No. No, he convinced himself. He had invited her in. Invitations were sacred things, at least that stereotype was true.

Ariel took Katja’s hand again gently. “Best to let him do what he needs to do. He won’t stay long; he never gets tired of saying how he ‘doesn’t come here to sit inside.’ Come, there’s a lake around here that freezes beautifully, or would you rather see the ice caves?”

 

[Katja]

"Oh..." Katja replied somewhat sheepishly, as though she should have known that the lodge would 'protect' her. She reined in her panic a little, though she chewed absently on her lower lip for a moment as she watched the path Lysander had taken, half expecting to see him barrelling toward her.

When Ariel took her hand again, Katja let out a breath and turned to him, her tension already melting at the choices he presented to her. "Ice caves?" her brows rose, and her lips twitched as she fought a shy smile.

She couldn't deny the slight flutter she felt in her stomach - but she was only human, and the most beautiful male she'd ever laid eyes on was holding her hand, protecting her from dangers and taking her to see lakes and ice caves! Katja didn't get out much, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep her wits about her.

 

[Ariel]

Ariel smiled, a beautiful and warm smile that threatened to melt the snow at Katja's feet. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"This way."

The walk was nice, almost nice enough to make him forget his worry about Katja's equipment and how stupid he'd been to just leave them in the open. It was almost nice enough to make him forget about the necklace she wore, and the very reason for wooing her into the woods with promises of snow and ice caves.

It didn't feel good to lead her on. Or... it shouldn't. That was what he was doing, wasn't it? The truth was he didn't feel as much guilt as he knew he ought to. It was there but it was being smothered by the enjoyment he got from seeing her eyes light up in wonder rather than fear. It was buried under other, less moral considerations the more she warmed up to him and the more he felt he saw her true demeanor. Discovering these mortals' minds, the lives they were living and how it shaped them, had always been a passion.

He couldn't get a read on what had shaped Katja. It was wonderfully frustrating.

The ice caves were small, by the standards of this region, but still beautiful. Winters across millennia had left tons of crystal-clear ice while the winds, rains, and likely magicks had shaped them into twisting kaleidoscopic escapes. The cave mouth was not dark, instead its maw glowed a quiet blue from the light refracted through its walls. More of the glittering blue lights wafted lazily about its entrance.

"Would you like to see inside?"

 

[Katja]

Katja let out a quiet, nasal huff at that warm smile of his. It was a dangerous thing indeed.

She asked more about his lands as they walked, how large it was, how many fae lived there, what sort of animals roamed and plants grew. About where their magic came from, and how it worked. Her tone was one of casual intrigue, but it was information that she required, details that she would have to take back home eventually... Perhaps she was leading him on a little by staying with him and agreeing to allow him to treat her to some luxury and show her more of his home, but she couldn't help but enjoy it.

The crunch of her steps stopped abruptly as her crystalline gaze settled upon the mouth of the cave, her mouth open as she drew in a soft gasp. "Saints." she murmured, and looked up at him with a nod. "Can we?" she asked.

It could've been the doorway to her doom, but like a moth to a flame she had absolutely no hesitance about being lured in by the cave's sparkling beauty. "Everything seems so much more beautiful on this side of the wall." she said a little enviously.

 

[Ariel]

Her curiosity fed his ego, and Ariel went with it perhaps a little too eagerly. He answered her questions, but kept details appropriately vague. The Winter Court was vast, home to enough fae that "you would never meet them all in one lifetime." The animals and plants, being a particular interest, he spilled a bit more on. Also, he wasn't sure how she could weaponize information about the various types of spruce trees or which fish preferred lakes to streams.

As for the magic, "it comes from Arethil," and he left it at that. She had not earned knowledge of the leylines. Katja had been armed on her arrival, after all, and the necklace... well, he would learn more about that in due course.

"Everything seems so much more beautiful on this side of the wall."

"That's because it is," he answered playfully. On the outside, he did not specify verbally. The cave mouth glimmered as they approached it and the liquid translucence made it seem as though the caverns were twisting with each step. The snow about the entrance was pristine, though this was not a guarantee of solitude. Not here, where so many could step upon the powder yet leave it untouched. Ariel had been erasing Katja's footsteps this entire time, although now he erased his own as well.

He pushed the present danger from his mind, vowing to deal with it when Katja was somewhere safer. Perhaps he could convince her to hide in the secret basement room while he checked on her supplies.

"Hold onto me tightly," Ariel said, placing Katja's hand on his forearm. The powder drifts from outside extended no more than a few feet into the cave's entrance, and from then on out it was solid, smooth ice.

Ice had always captivated Ariel's imagination. His own affinities aside, it had a paradoxical existence that he could not ignore. It was at once mercurial and permanent. Hard as stone and yet, with the slightest heat, melting away. Transient, changeable. Then again, these caves had remained for eons, and had been static since their first freeze.

You're a pretentious fuck, you know that? Chastised his inner-monologue. Daydreaming about the poetry of ice while a pretty girl hung on his arm? He cracked a wry smile before turning his attention back to Katja.

"I have told you much about myself, now I would like to hear about you." And he returned her questions, asking where she was from and what she did day to day. "You don't trespass into the fae courts every day I should think. What does brave Katja do with her mighty bow in the mortal realms?"

 

[Katja]

'That's because it is.''

She cast him a quick smirk in response to his smugness, but he wasn't lying. Her expression brightened with bewilderment as he let her inside, her grip tightening on his arm as she felt the slippery surface underfoot. Katja stopped, overwhelmed by her surroundings of this surreal world where every shade of blue reflected from crystal ice formations and sculptures beyond her imagination. It played with her senses, engulfing her in a strange kind of silence that blended with the deep, echoing sounds from within the ice. She remembered to breathe and felt the moist air chill her lungs and the cold mist on her face as every direction she looked in was an out-of-this-world vision and she needed stillness just to take it in.

"Oh.." she said, humbly mesmerised.

She looked up at him as he spoke, tensing slightly at his questions, but it was too simple a thing to let down her guard a little in a place like this, to a fae like him. And he'd called her brave, she couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"I'm an apprentice. Evander studies the laws and properties of magic, he invents objects in which he can house said magics. I assist him in his searches.. He's been trying to find entry to the fae realm for many years." she explained, still hypnotically entranced by the shifting colour palette around her, pale bluish-white tones, to bluer and bluest, to strong turquoise tones into blue green and dark green.

"I learned to shoot when I was a child.." she answered belatedly in response to his question about her bow.

 

[Ariel]

Ariel did not let his face show how much Katja had just revealed to him, though his gently pointed ears did perk at Evander's name. He continued to lead Katja on their slow passage through the caverns, pursued by the constantly warping reflections of themselves.

Evander. The name made his neck bristle, and it was not because of who he was or what he did. "Mortal men usually try to contain things that are stronger than themselves." Wizards of that kind were dolefully common, and even though this one had managed to acquire a powerful fae artifact, it was not this transgression that irked Ariel.

He didn't like that Evander had used Katja to break into this place, that he had obviously not told her the significance of the amulet, and that he had sent her out woefully unprepared. Had any other fae met her at the border she would be dead, or worse. His soft spot for a mortal woman, glaring and unabashed, was rearing its head once more.

"Do you serve Evander willingly?" Given how she had said his name Ariel thought he knew the answer. "It's just that usually pretty young gi-"

"ARIEL!"

His flattery was halted by the deep and roaring voice of Lysander, amplified by the contours of the cave. It was punctuated by a loud crack and the sound of crumbling ice.

"Where is she, Ariel, the little huntress with her ash arrows?" Another crack and shattered walls.

"Come quickly," Ariel breathed and tugged Katja along the ice further into the caves.

The were other voices bouncing around the walls now. Lower voices, laughing voices. Lysander had brought backup, and they were in too good of a mood for Ariel's liking.

"Did you think you could hide her from me? You seriously tried to glamour me in the forest?" His voice was much closer now, and some of the other voices were now echoing from in front of the pair.

 

[Katja]

Her lips thinned as she gave a slow, sage nod at Ariel's observations of mortal men, but the question he asked next caused her expression to shift and she frowned at him. Serve him willingly? Shame crept into her cheeks as she tried to find the answer to that question, her lips parting with a shake of her head.. "It's not like th--" she cut over him, though she stopped speaking as abruptly as he did.

'ARIEL!'
​

Katja winced at the timbre of the voice, heart dropped into the put of her stomach and she glanced up and around the icy cavern before turning her wide gaze back to Ariel. Her body jolted at the sound of another loud crack in the ice, and she went with him without question.

The sounds of crumbling ice and laughing fae followed them. It seemed to come from every direction, and Katja held onto Ariel's hand for dear life as they ran. She drew in a startled gasp as the voice came from up ahead and she pulled at his hand and skidded to a halt.

"Ariel.." she whispered, looking here and there as her heart raged on in her chest and her breaths came thick and fast. She looked back at him hopelessly and shook her head.

She shouldn't have stayed here..

 

[Ariel]

They were being closed in upon. Fae voices bounced throughout the caves and mixed into an unintelligible din. His wonderings about the lodge's protective magic had been answered, and it was quite clear that it favored fae tenants above mortal trespassers. Ordinarily Ariel would have been comforted by that, but today was not an ordinary day.

There was another crack behind them, this one so loud that his ears thrummed in his skull. He turned to see a large fissure peeking around a corner. A moment later he saw a black boot step over it.

Out of time and out of options, Ariel reached out into the open air and pulled down on invisible threads. The icy cavern behind them collapsed in a thunderous shower of ice, sealing them off completely. More loud bangs followed as Lysander attempted to break through.

Hurried footsteps came from in front now, and this time warped reflections could be seen running along the walls. Ariel hissed an ancient curse in a language he scarcely used. Without time for thought, he hoisted Katja off her feet and into an embrace.

"Hold on tightly."

The ice beneath his feet liquified and the pair of them slid quickly and smoothly beneath the frozen floor. A tunnel of ice melted as quickly as they fell, evening out into a flat slide where they finally came to a horizontal rest. The opening sealed as smooth and thick as it had been before, and they were wrapped in darkness.

 

[Katja]

Katja's hand slammed to her mouth at the sound of the crack of ice behind them, muffling the sound of a gasp. Katja had always thought herself unafraid of facing dangers and death, until she stood face to face with it, and now she was very much afraid. She'd been warned and she'd ignored every word.

Again she jolted at the sudden collapse of ice, her panic betrayed by every breath she took and by the gathering pools of tears in her eyes. She stayed as close to Ariel as she could, her fingers subconsciously fisting into his shirt as her eyes darted from sound to sound like prey surrounded by predators.

Her glistening eyes widened on him as he lifted her off of her feet, his instruction voiced before she could say anything. She obeyed, trusting his intention to try and save her from harm and her arms held fast to him. Her heart only thumped that bit harder between them as she looked down, seeing them sink into the floor.

What the ffff…

She couldn't help the little whimper of fear that left her as they slid into some sort of tunnel. Or, more aptly, some sort of coffin. It was preferable to where she'd stood moments before, and she'd let herself forget for a moment that there was very little air. Her grip on him tightened and she buried her face against him neck as they lay there, her breaths shuddering against his neck and one or two tears falling loose of her lashes.

"Thank you." she mouthed in a breath, and little by little her rigid form eased, soothed by the darkness and the warmth of him.

 

[Ariel]

Heartbeats. Humans had such noisy heartbeats. They lay together in darkness with the most dangerous hunters above them, and all Ariel could hear was the sound of Katja’s heart thundering in her chest. All he could smell was her hair amidst the crisp ice. All he felt was her heat from within this cold tomb.

Cursed fae senses. They were making it very difficult to stay focused, very difficult to focus on the muffled voices and footsteps above. They were difficult to make out, even with his acute hearing, and easily drowned by the blood rushing in his ears.

Then there was a boom that rattled through him and vibrated their icy coffin, but that was all. After Lysander’s apparent frustration and fury, the noise without began to fade until it finally vanished completely.

Ariel did not trust it, and he would give it some more time before returning them to the surface. A partially self-serving strategy, for he did like how Katja felt against him. She had a lightness to her, a lightness that felt paradoxically pleasant weighed upon him.

 

[Katja]

Katja's shoulders jolted at the boom, the sound striking at her already racing heart and riding it faster. She was so incredibly frightened. When had she ever been this frightened before? Evander was right. The fae realm was real, and it wasn't safe. She should not have been seen, she should not have lingered, she should not have spoken to Ariel and she should most certainly not have accepted his invitation into the cabin. It was difficult to regret much of it, however. Whether she'd been naive or not, he'd seemed kind and his hospitality was greatly appreciated. Hell, he'd undoubtedly saved her from the worst sort of death in this very moment.

But she shouldn't have been here in the first place.

She wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been laying there against him. Her pulse had slowed and her breathing had calmed, her rigid form having all but melted into him the longer everything above remained silent, at least as far as she could tell. Neither was she sure that she hadn't actually dozed off for a moment. Her eyes blinked open, not that they could see in this darkness. Still, she tilted her head to look up at his face.

"Are they gone?.." she whispered with barely a sound at all.

 

[Ariel]

Ariel held her until her shaking stopped, and for some time afterwards. It was deathly quiet except for their breathing, which was starting to make the ice around them sweat. Her whisper reached him in the darkness, and he answered just as quietly, "I think so."

A thin tube opened through the ice, just wide enough for a fiber of icy light to come through. A cool breeze flowed from it, neutralizing the warmth their bodies had made. The tube slowly expanded, and when Ariel was satisfied he could not hear anyone in the caves, their small pocket of ice began to move upwards. They tilted gently forwards, so that by the time they reached the surface Ariel was standing with Katja in his arms.

"Can you walk?" he asked. He could carry her quite easily, and he made no attempt to lower her. It would be understandable if she did not wish to move under her own power. Most prey froze from fear.

 

[Katja]

Katja's grip on Ariel tightened as she felt her surroundings shift once more. She hadn't really taken a moment to think about what he'd done - the magic he'd used. She'd never seen anything like it before, but what'd surprised her more was that he'd used it to protect her from his own kind. This entire world was confusing, and utterly terrifying. She'd had such a well rounded grasp on the world she knew and the environments she'd grown used to, but here she felt almost childlike in her nativity and it was discomforting to say the least. Still, she couldn't help but be intrigued.

She was so focused on staring around the icy cavern that it took her a moment to realise that he was holding her and she looked at him as he spoke. Honestly, she considered shaking her head and allowing him to carry her for fear that if she set a foot down, the hunters would somehow sense it and return. That, and he was warm.. But her head nodded slowly after such considerations and she decided that she had never let a male carry her thus far and she was not about to start now.

"I can.." she answered, but as she was set down she took her time in letting go of him. At least she'd stopped shaking, though the shame of it was yet to leave her and she cleared her throat with a glance at her feet. "Thank you.." she said and let out a steadying breath.

"I suppose, they're unlikely to give up on their hunt so easily?.." she asked with a slight grimace. "I should get back to where I belong.."