Private Tales Upriver

[Rayth Keirn]

She was so preoccupied with the boat that she didn't even see him coming. At least not until he walked down the last stretch. The flat rock that jutted out into the bay was slippery underfoot, so he took care as he approached. He was also more cautious of Eislyn now.

"Please don't make me swim after you," he called out in a casual manner. He walked the rest of the way to the water's edge, placing his hands on his hips.

"You will run out of dresses and I have only just dried off."

Rayth hadn't even finished drying. His skin was decidedly damp and every step had his clothes rubbing against chaffed skin.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Disheveled blonde hair fell across her face as she righted herself in the small rowboat. She almost fell in. Again. Both hands still held that oar, very pointedly, between herself and Rayth.

It was times like these that she wished she had a different kind of magic. He could easily still jump into the boat.

“I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I said I just wanted to take a leisurely nightly row?”

There was a glug-glug behind her as some of the rotted wood disintegrated abruptly allowing a leak. Water began to bubble up into the bottom of the rower. Eislyn risked a glance back and wondered if she’d be able to make it across the cavern and to that cleft in the rock before sinking.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth pushed himself up onto tip toes and tried to peer down into the small boat. That sound had not been very reassuring.

"I suppose it would make sense for you to be going around in circles. Seeing as you only have one oar."

His eyes flicked down to the potential weapon. She was close enough that she could put it within his grasp to be pulled back to land.

"Why don't you come back here and I'll agree to believe you?"

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Agree to believe her?

Did he think her naive enough to believe him? Like they wouldn't rope her up for the rest of this little trip. Lips pursed into a thin line as her gaze flickered between Rayth and the way out. Freedom. It looked as if she were about to turn around and get to the front of the rowboat in order to scrape and scratch her way to that cleft.

Only, the boat had other plans. As Eislyn took a step back, there was a loud POP-glug-glug-glug sound as a good chunk of the rotting wood fell off. Seemed it really couldn't take that much weight.

Or perhaps something bumped it from below because Eislyn suddenly found herself airborn and tipping back to the dock. Oar still gripped in one hand, the paddle-part aiming for Rayth's shoulder as the rest of her weight followed.

To her credit, she didn't scream or yell. But a startled gasp left her throat. She really hadn't been aiming for Rayth but that's what happened when a boat suddenly lurched and sank beneath one's feet.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth didn't react to avoid the oar. As she stumbled he braced. His eyes turned upwards to watched it swinging up and over to come down on his shoulder.

The impact reverberated through his body. His teeth clattered together. The pain from his shoulder to his jaw had barely registered before she went colliding into him.

They went down in a heap, Rayth rolling on instinct to try and come out on top of Eislyn in a heap of dress layers.

Whilst his mind would catch up with what had happened his hand went for the hilt of his knife.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

The rowboat gurgled and bubbled as it was swallowed by the cold, cavern waters. Something big and dark swirled just beneath, unseen by Eislyn as she went down. Hips knocked into Rayth's.

"Oomph," she groaned.

She felt the hardness of his body and then the frigid hardness of the rock beneath her back. Adrenaline coursed through her body and as she felt his weight settle in a very inappropriate manner, her instincts kicked in.

Instincts very much un-diplomatic like.

A small, bony knee would suddenly come up, swiftly beneath Rayth, among layers of dress and shift. Most likely toward his stomach area or somewhere close by if it actually made contact. She wasn't strong, so she couldn't actually shake him off with her own mass.

"Please. Get. Off."

Princess Eislyn Gray did not leave manners behind even in a tussle.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Oof."

A few inches lower and he would have been in trouble. His fingers closed around the hilt of his knife. They released it as soon as she made her insistent, yet polite, demand. Something about that cut through all instincts and made him realise that he wasn't being attacked.

Rayth rolled away. He didn't move with the same grace and balance as usual. He stood up slowly, one hand to his shoulder and the other to his belly.

Rayth winced, waving towards the path back up towards the town.

"I am starting to suspect that you're going to kill me before the end of this. One way or another."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Chest heaved. Hands came up so she could push wild blonde ribbons of hair away from her face. Her fingers were trembling. There'd been a brute of a man a long time ago. His weight had been placed similarly. But he hadn't moved. Not until he'd been forced to.

Rayth had stepped on a minefield within Eislyn's memories which stirred up things that still terrified her. Eislyn was a strong and tough woman - until she wasn't.

She shivered but not because of the cold and finally looked up at Rayth, trying to maintain a modicum of dignity. She really needed to learn how to fight; how to defend herself.

Palms pushed on the wet, rocky surface as she came to a wobbly stand. "Believe me, I wasn't trying to throw myself at you intentionally." Hands rubbed up and down her arms, slowly, as she moved toward the path. Verdant gaze moved to his shoulder and against her better judgement, she offered something.

"I might be able to help tha--," with a plume of spray a large, slickly-black tentacle broke through the surface of the water behind them. Then another. Eislyn turned in time to see one coming down toward her.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth was busy rubbing his shoulder and considering his first quip as the first of the creatures burst up out of the water. His humour often seemed quick, but in truth he was just good at hiding when he was thinking.

All thoughts were dashed at the sight of the thing coming up out of the water.

His face blanched as the shape started to emerge. His sword snapped free of its scabbard. The keen edge turned into the wind, which hissed in pain as it was divided by its sharpness.

"Get behind me," he growled, only to see one tentacle snaking towards her ankle.

Ignoring her pain his sword cut the air in a new angle as it whipped down. It struck both flesh and stone.

"Go, go, they won't go far from the water..."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

These creatures were things of nightmares. Even with the creatures from their first night on sea and the harrowing journey into the cliff-face, Eislyn hadn't felt the flutter of fear that was now bubbling in her chest. They had sharp spikes further up their tentacles. Maws with rows of teeth and wrapping horns around the tops of their heads.

They walked with sickly squelching sounds.

Slrp. Slrp. Slrrrp.

Eislyn managed to give a wild nod to Rayth and lunged forward, getting that oar up in her hands. She began back-peddling. One of the tentacled creatures lunged for Rayth's other side and Eisly swung, hard. A jar ran up her arms as the oar splintered. It was enough to cause the beast to stagger back as Eislyn followed next to Rayth and found the steps.

She jabbed the oar forward into another, yelping as the creature shredded the end with its spikes and tugged it from her grasp.

Feet continued to back up those stairs. Trying not to trip. Trying not to faint.

"I hope you're right," she breathed. Right about them not going far from the water. Hand twitched at that iron bangle along her wrist. She might have to take it off. She might have to use what no one was supposed to know about if these creatures continued to follow them.

More black shapes began emerging from the waters further out the end of the dock.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

He might have taken the oar over his sword right now. Anything that could be used to put a little more distance between himself and the krakarl. Now it was gone.

"I hope I'm right," he grunted as he back up another stair. The creatures didn't seem to need them. Two crawled up after them on the stairs, another had no trouble gripping the slippery rock to flank them.

In the water they would not have been so cautious coming after their prey. The krakarl were usually found out in the deep. Rayth could only imagine that there were some underwater caves deep below the bay where they had settled.

His sword flashed again and severed tentacles fell to the stairs. One of the beasts staggered away, pale ichor gushing from its head.

There was a soft click behind them. The other creature in front of them fell away, grasping at the bolt protruding from its chest.

Rayth turned, relieved to see Geelyn reloading a crossbow.

"What the fuck are these doing here?" She called down.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"I'm assuming you're not asking me," Eislyn yelped as the creature who'd crawled up to flank them swiped out a claw at her leg. There was a ripping sound as claw met fabric but luckily not flesh.

The princess wrestled with dual emotions at seeing Geelyn and her chances of escaping this night quickly disappearing. She supposed this was still better than being dragged down to the depths before even paddling across the cavern's waters to the enchanted entrance.

There was a whiz in the air as another bolt flew from Geelyn, catching the creature in the shoulder. With a surprised gurgle, it fell off and down into the waters below. But three more were crawling up to replace it. More were pulling themselves up from the docks. Verdant gaze looked at Rayth's form and back to Geelyn's worried face.

Even with Rayth's skills with the blade, they wouldn't make it.

Even if Brin joined in, they wouldn't make it.

Even if the Paragon suddenly returned at this moment, they might not make it.

Fingers trembled as she took another staggering step back. There was a small clatter as the iron bangle left her wrist and fell to the stone steps at her feet - a sound easily missed in the chaos. "I'd suggest you close your eyes and get Geelyn to do the same." If Rayth looked back, he'd see a very serious expression etched into Eislyn's face. And something else; fear. It wasn't fear of the creatures, it was fear of what would happen to her once this happened. What Rayth and Geelyn had the potential to do with knowing.

And if there'd been a mage around, as the iron jewelry left her wrist, they'd sense a sudden swell of power coming from the slender woman. Palm rose as she stretched her arm. It started as a soft glow like the moon's light. The creatures immediately began hissing and grunting in agitation. Yowling in pain. The light grew hotter and brighter but only to the beings of the dark. The monsters with the red eyes.

Moonlight shifted to sunlight shifted to something brighter and more ethereal.

Sounds of bodies falling around them, watery-flesh sizzling, and retreating groans filled the cavern. Eislyn's hand wobbled. The light from her palm - from her body, began to fade. Back to the moonlight back to the pale hue of normal skin. Breathing hard, she sunk slowly down to a damp, rocky step. Her energy was all but depleted, even the bones in her body felt like they weighed too much. She didn't even have the energy to look at what was left behind.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"By Metisa's favour what..."

When the noises had stopped, when he could no longer see the crimson of his own blood through his eyelids Rayth had decided to open his eyes again. One of the charred bodies slipped into the bay. The water frothed around it, but no more of the creatures emerged. Any more below the surface had decided that they would not risk coming up.

It hadn't been a fireball. Rayth had seen those in action when the paragon had paid a battlemage to sail with them after a particularly dangerous pirate fleet. No one had needed to close their eyes as she had burned two ships to cinders.

"What did you do?" he asked softly, kneeling down beside Eislyn. He tentatively reached out with his left hand, worried that her own shoulder would burn his hand.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Her shoulder wouldn’t burn his, though, her skin would feel a little feverish. Lips puckered, thinned, then parted. Eyes squinted as if the motion of opening them caused her pain. Were they gone?

She tried to focus on Rayth.

What had she done?

Something she probably should not have. Why had she saved them? Why had she not tried to run and used the creatures as a distraction to escape? She liked to think it was because she wouldn’t have made it. A smaller voice she wanted to ignore insisted it was because running wasn’t who she was. At least, running to sacrifice another for herself. Everyone knew people like that didn’t last long in a world like this.

“Don’t tell,” she murmured in a moment of clarity before her eyes rolled shut and the fever took her.

“Into the shadowlands I must go. Remember me when I am gone away, gone far away into the silent land, when you can no more hold me by the hand.”

Broken snippets of the sonnet left her lips. Head rolled back as the price of magic called. She’d be out for the next few hours.

“Remember me....”

“....into the shadowlands.”

“Silent lands.”

“Far away....gone...”

“Don’t...tell...”

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Geelyn looked down at Rayth from a few stairs above them. A few stairs and a good few inches she had over him in height. She asked if he had any idea what this meant with her eyes.

They could mock his age and upbringing, but when lives were on the line everyone on the crew followed the chain of command rigidly. Rayth shook his head.

"What the fuck did we get into?" he asked no one in particular. He gathered her up and held her limp for as well as he could.

"Keep your crossbow on the water until we're back up at the house. I don't think they would come that far out of the water. They're not like shriekers they can't breathe air."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

The fever broke within the hour and sleep claimed her for the next two. She awoke tucked within the bedroll back in the house they’d claimed. She could feel the warmth of the fire along her side, it’s cracking and popping sounds reminding her all that had happened, hadn’t been a dream.

Verdant eyes fluttered open.

It looked lighter. She wondered if the glowing lichen that covered the cavern’s walls changed to match the day and night outside. Heel of her hand pressed against her forehead as she sat up. Geelyn was staring at her quietly from across the room. Brin’s back was to her as he was outside the open doorframe. Must be taking a watch.

“How long have I been out?” Voice was raspy. Fingers drifted down to her throat. Her throat felt as dry as the drought that hit the land decades ago.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Few hours," called Brin from the door. "Ya look pale. Should have a swig of rum." The dwarves voice was laced with sarcasm. He still still upset that Rayth had forbode him from drinking any more rum. Even if it was tainted, he could think of no better way to spend these days than fast asleep.

Rayth was on the far side of the fire, watching the flames intently. He slowly stood up to walk around it's heat. He was back down to his undershirt. A dark bandage had been wrapped around his forearm and was stained red. At the time he had not even felt the cut. He hoped it would not turn angry and red with infection; he was rather find of his right hand.

He dropped to his haunches right before Eislyn. That mischief that rarely his further than the corner of his eyes was gone.

"So you're a mage?" he asked bluntly.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Eislyn thought it was wise not to respond to Brin’s comment. It made sense that they figured it out. That he figured it out.

Lips pursed at Rayth’s directness and proximity. Verdant gaze searched the lines of his face for a moment. Glimpses of worry and fear shadowed her own visage.

“Can we speak alone?”

 

[Rayth Keirn]

That he did not immediately reply probably spoke a lot. Rayth had not fully trusted her before, but he had thought he had Eislyn worked out. Perhaps he should have known better than to judge a book by its cover.

It was too easy to assume she was some simple privileged child elevated above her station to take part in diplomatic exchanges. A figurehead who let the middle-aged envoys take over once she had said some kind words.

Now he did not know who she was at all. There was no time to truly reexamine his own failing. He was too busy being nervous about who she was.

"Yes," he said eventually. He passed Geelyn a sidelong glance that might have said 'come running if you hear trouble'. Then he offered Eislyn his hand. It wasn't much, but the small gesture was a small step.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Her own gaze flickered to Geelyn, then Rayth, and then his hand, before traveling back up to his eyes. It was a start. A start to help her bite back the growing panic that wanted to well up in her gut. After a short pause, smaller hand would slip into his palm. The callouses she felt there were, in its own way, comforting.

She stood slowly, fingers tightening on his own for support. Her weary muscles betrayed her. She walked with him past Brin who was glaring up at her like a petulant child. She walked in silence until they were a few dilapidated houses up the street.

“I am no mage,” she admitted slowly. “I’m not sure what I am.”

The princess stopped and faced the man. “Other than a girl who would be hunted down and killed by her own father if he ever found out.” Eyes silently searched his own, wondering if he knew the cost of what she’d done.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth crossed his arms over his chest defensively, careful to place his bandaged right over his left. He drummed his fingers against his own elbows.

"No reason anyone needs to know about that," he replied. "Far as I see it we owe you at least that for what you did."

Rayth didn't see an assassin in the woman before him. Even if he tried to force himself to see her in a different light just to try and imagine her that way he couldn't.

"I'm more worried about myself and my crew..." he admitted. For the first time since she had woken there was a slight hint of amusement in his voice, but it was well hidden.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Eislyn stepped back and leaned against a partially crumbling stone wall. The negotiator couldn't hide the relief that fettered across her brow. She let her eyes close for a moment, face tilted up toward the cavern ceiling. She hoped he meant it.

If Geelyn or Rayth told their Captain, well, she didn't know what would happen. The Captain seemed to be a man of his word but he also seemed to be a man of profit. Nothing would prevent him from dropping her off and then picking her right back up again to sell off to someone at a higher price. There were rumors of those with magic being hunted down, forced into service of other kingdoms.

Greens like sunlight hitting across a meadow cracked open again and tracked back to Rayth. Bonde-brows rose in surprise. "What in the Arethil are you worried about? And perhaps if you're so fearful of me, you could just help me escape, instead?"

It was her attempt at a joke.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth took the question as it was intended, raising an eyebrow at her audacity to try and joke at this time. The scar over that eye didn't allow it to form a neat curve above his eye, tugging at the middle. He was still concerned that the krakarl might return when the Paragon arrived. Even if they did not attack the large vessel, they might got for the row boat.

There was another route out of the cavern, which he was considering. They could head out to the coast and wave down the vessel as it approached the rocks. He did not want to tell Eislyn about that just yet.

"I'm afraid that if you see a chance of escape that you might, or at least threaten to, burn be to cinders if I don't let you leave," he replied. He wasn't quite joking, but he kept his tone light.

"You look exhausted. I know its dry but you should probably try and eat more and get some rest," he said. "And no one taught you to do...that?"

 

[Eislyn Gray]

“I can’t promise you I won’t try and escape again. There are things at work here beyond trade deals. Even beyond the war I’ve been brought in for.”

There was something bigger coming. Something that would send ripples of destruction throughout Arethil. Eislyn knew she was just one of many who had a chance to do something about it when the time came. If she was brave and strong enough. If she got ahead of it.

“But as for burning,” a small, deprecating smile. “It doesn’t quite work like that.”

She pushed off from the wall, hands moving slowly up and down her arms. The bottom of her dress had been torn by the creatures, creating a natural slit. Rayth was right in that she’d run out of dresses.

“And besides, I’d miss your quips and smile too much if I did that.” Her smile turned secret before disappearing.

Eislyn began walking with Rayth back to the house. “No one taught me. Sometimes I feel like I’m being guided by something - someone beyond this world.”

Shoulders shrugged as she waved the notion away. There was more of a story of how she discovered this. But that could wait for another time. Fingers traveled down to her wrist, freezing when she didn’t feel the bangle there.

She stopped walking abruptly.

“Rayth. Did you pick up my bracelet from the stairs?” There was an unspoken urgency behind her tone.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth found himself slipping easily into a more conversational tone with Eislyn, despite knowing the dangers. Neither of them really wanted to be jn this situation, but for the first time he felt a stab of guilt for putting her here. They had not come from entirely different places. Perhaps he should not have taken the opportunity to discuss literature with her. Perhaps he shouldn't have noticed the torn dress as she stepped forwards. These thoughts were pushed aside when she seemed genuinely distressed about the bracelet.

"No, it's down by the water," he replied, coming to a stop. It was just a plain piece of metal from what he could remember. It hadn't seemed important when he had picked up her to flee the waterside.

"If it has sentimental value I can probably sneak down quietly and try to get it back," he offered.