Fable - Ask Winter

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Cauldwin's stance relaxed a bit at the Heike's answer, returning to an upright at-attention posture, or as much as he could given his height in the small shack. He now knew of a place he could retreat to. A place that was just outside a village would be an excellent staging ground, or at least a place to receive a quick rest on what would likely be a long journey.

Cauldwin then posed his final question, "Could you show me the way to these places?", he said was trying his best not to give away how unworldly he truly was.

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike finished filling the vials of her belt with blood, all but one used, and she set the empty wine bottle aside. Troublesome, fiddling around with the vials and their smaller corks, but she'd gotten used to it. Using her oft times clumsy clawed fingers, that is. It was akin to having knives strapped to her regular human fingers; not quite that awkward, but certainly close.

Heike stood. Walked toward the door of the hunter's shack, comfortable now with walking past Cauldwin and allowing her guard to relax.

"Yes, I can do that. I would see you delivered from injustice, for what capacity I have to aid in the matter."

And the situation was difficult, was it not? Tragic (or a product of grossly negligent incompetence) if it was all some grievous misunderstanding, wholly malevolent if it was on purpose. For if it was on purpose to cast Cauldwin into a villainous light for something he truly did not do, then to further send good men in pursuit of unknowingly enacting that injustice was a peak in the mountain range of wickedness.

She placed a hand on the doorframe, but did not open the door yet. Not all the way. Just cracked the door open enough to peer out with a single eye into the snow-covered forest.

"How many were there? More than those two men, I presume?"

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

"How many were there? More than those two men, I presume?"

Cauldwin was relieved at the vampires willingness to assist him, what ever her reasons. As she peered out the doorway, Cauldwin prepared an answer to her question and a plan, "About fifty watchmen at least, all of them scattered through out the woods in groups. Plus what ever watchmen I didn't see, bounty hunters, and concerned citizens.

Once I'm out in the open, stealth is pretty much out the window, we'll-", Cauldwin looked over the creature of the night in front of him, "*I'll* have to make a hell's sprint if anyone is hot on my trail."

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

"Fifty."

Heike let out a I'd Best Get Ready huff of breath and blinked. She expected an overwhelming force to apprehend him, such was standard protocol in Reikhurst and the wisdom of this was certainly heeded in other kingdoms and cities as well, but she didn't expect that many. They would be able to cast a wide net if they so wanted, and they could do this without necessarily separating too far from their comrades.

And Cauldwin would be as noticeable as Heike previously stated. They did at least have the darkness of night on their side, but she didn't know for how much longer.

She opened the shack door fully. Said, "I'll have a quick look. And we will see if you will be sprinting or not."

Heike stepped outside into the cold and the snow. Black silhouettes of trees against the basalt sky for those with normal vision, and a forest of grays and whites and the far away shadow of the clouds for Heike. She reached up and grabbed hold of the edge of the small shack's roof and pulled herself up with little effort.

Crouched on this vantage, she scanned the surrounding forest. Looking for movement. Looking for light especially, if the men--like the earlier two--were all indeed carrying torches.

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

(OOC: whelp, you get next post as Cualdwin is basically just waiting for your mark.)

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike didn't see anything. No torchlight granting color back to the world from her grayscale nightvision, no men trekking through the snowy woods. A good thing, but not entirely. It was possible that Cauldwin was actually inside the search net being cast for him, and that they might actually catch up to the teams of searching men by trying to get out of it.

But there was likely not a choice. There could be more of the men coming this way, there might not be. It simply was not known. What was assured was that the further Cauldwin fled from Alliria, the better.

Heike dropped down from the shack's roof. Peered back inside to him. Said, "It's clear." She gave a small nod of her head, a gesture that communicated let's go. Then she remembered (to an abashed degree) that...despite how used to her nightvision she had unfortunately become, not everyone had it. So she said, "Let's go."

She started walking eastward, remembering her directional reckoning from when their had been (albeit obscured) daylight.

"It would be fortuitous if they all carried torches," she said. "Then their positions will be obvious. If they do not, I can spot them. Do not be alarmed if I place my hand upon your breastplate. If I do, then I have seen someone in the dark."

The crunch of snow under their feet.

And Heike said in a solemn manner, "For what value you may find from it, I think this to be a wretched and horrible ordeal for you to endure. None should suffer false accusations."

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Cauldwin waited in the shack for Heike's mark, when it was given he followed her footsteps closely, being to only thing he could now plainly make out in the darkness. She then chided, "It would be fortuitous if they all carried torches," she said. "Then their positions will be obvious. If they do not, I can spot them. Do not be alarmed if I place my hand upon your breastplate. If I do, then I have seen someone in the dark."

Cauldwin acknowledged her warning with a simple, "Understood." She then gave him certain condolences on the situation, to which Cauldwin said nothing. Not wanting to make any more noise that might draw the attention of the watchmen.

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Oh. Perhaps it was that he took no value from what she had said. That was...fair. To be expected, even. Heike was, after all, a vampire. Plain and simple. And had not Maria only so recently slain some of his comrades? Yes, it was quite sensible that vampires were stigmatized as they were--and as well they ought to be. How wretched it must be then for Cauldwin to find himself in so loathsome a situation that he called a vampire an ally over his fellow man.

Heike trekked through the snow, the crunches of her shoes pressing into it relentlessly rhythmic. The dark of the night pervaded the forest, and it was likely that some combination of the sound of this crunching and the sight of her black, moving silhouette allowed Cauldwin to follow after her. It was the sort of night were even the rustling of the branches above inspired consuming thoughts of what unknown terrors lurked in the inky darkness. And it was to Heike's great shame that she happened to be kin to such terrors.

The cold did not bother her. She had an awareness of it, but there was no discomfort nor pain nor shivering that came with it. How she longed for that suffering, that inseparable part of what it was to be human. Cauldwin felt it, yet he endured--in this the virtuous struggle and act of overcoming that was now to Heike a bygone thing.

So far their trek through the dark, snowy forest had been peaceful. Undetected.

But was that something in the distance?

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Cauldwin followed close behind Heike, the cold having little affect on his Nordenfiir blood. But as they walked to a particular part of the forest, he could see in the distance the light of torches, and in that light a landmark an old stone left over from a fortress of ancient times.

Cauldwin remembered something from back when he was just a rookie watchman, before his armor even had a speck of rust, the wizard chase... He quickly put his hand in front of Heike and pulled her back before the lair of snow would collapse into the trench below, he could hear the thin sheet of snow fall just in front of them.

The wizard, using magic, had simply caused a thin lair of foliage to grow over the trench causing all but Cauldwin and Grog Bal'grog to fall to their deaths. In this case it was just nature trying to kill him and his companions again.

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike stopped abruptly and stepped back at Cauldwin's prompting. She had seen the light ahead, and she was sure that he had too, but the sudden halt caught her by surprise. The light was far away and she had not seen any movement in the darkness. So what--?

Then she heard it. Saw it. The collapse of the snow, appearing in a way to be the collapse of the very ground just in front of her, down into the trench. The deep trench. How did Cauldwin know about it, especially in the dark? Perhaps he recognized something of the local area, having patrolled around here prior. The boulder that was illuminated by the light of the distance torches seemed distinctive enough to be memorable, a suitable place to gather one's bearings.

Heike let out a sigh of relief--her cold breath not visible in the frigid air as it would have been if she had her warmth and mortality.

The question: who held or had lit that torch in the distance? Someone of a nearby town or village? Or one of the men in their search for Cauldwin? Either answer, upon brief reflection, was bad for them. Either for Heike specifically, or for Cauldwin specifically.

"We can divert," Heike whispered. "The light gives them away. It should be easy."

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Cauldwin considered what Heike was saying, he still didn't know where exactly any town or village was but he knew what that landmark was for, it was the top of an old fortress, now just above the water. People often used it as a bridge to cross the Sayue River... he wondered if that would trap.

He decided to hear Heike's plan, "So in more detail, what exactly are we planning on doing?" ,he whispered.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike looked upward to him--for all the sparse worth such a gesture would have in the dark. And this underscored their advantage, one they would retain at least for another few hours until the dawn began to peek at the eastern edge of the clouded sky.

"We do not approach the light. We go around and continue east," she whispered back. "The dark will remain our ally for a time, and while it is we should not give away this advantage as they by necessity do with their torches."

Heike turned and started to walk once more, parallel to the deep trench she had nearly fallen down into. Funny, in a strange way the trench was subtly helping them--Heike and Cauldwin couldn't easily approach the light even if they had wanted to, and they were essentially being shepherded away from the radiant landmark. Suited Heike well enough. Torches in the night where not good news for her, even if she was not traveling with someone who was actively being hunted.

Maybe this would not be as difficult as Heike initially thought. Thus far they had encountered only that distant light, and Heike was not even sure that was a clear instance of the men who were after Cauldwin. They may have had fifty men to start, but it would appear as though they had cast their net too wide. Heike and Cauldwin could very well escape without encountering a single one of them at this current rate.

The snow crunched in that numbingly familiar way with each step.

From somewhere off to Heike's right came a sudden yipping and barking of wolves, followed by a plaintive shriek of another animal that was cut short. Heike glanced, but wherever the wolves and their fresh kill were, she couldn't see them--perhaps behind a slope of the undulating terrain of the forest.

She continued through the snow at a steady pace.

"With good fortune," she whispered as she walked, "that will not draw any unwanted attention."

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Cualdwin followed Heike, he wanted to know where they were headed, not just that they were going east. He didn't want to impose on her supposed generosity in helping him, after all if annoyed this one she could easily lead him into Allirina custody for a hefty reward. It felt strange to him, being other side of the law, and this was further exacerbated by his distrust for the vampire.

Where exactly was she leading him? It was quite a thing to go out of your way to help a marked man for nothing and with little evidence to his claims of innocence. In fact, it seemed a lot more likely that this creature was leading him into an eventual betrayal.

His thoughts were interrupted by wolves taking down a fresh kill. He didn't fear them of course, his armor was impenetrable to their fangs and claws, and do to his lineage most animals feared and avoided him due to the fact that he literally smelled like a bear.

With good fortune," she whispered as she walked, "that will not draw any unwanted attention."

Cauldwin replied in a semi-agitated whisper to the vampire he was trusting less and less by the second, "I wouldn't worry about the wolves when in my company, their rightly afraid of svalen in me, and will avoid us."

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Svalen? Heike was unfamiliar with the word, but it sounded like something in a language other than Common. Though from what language and region of the world she could not say. Her education of the world during her squiring dealt in broad overviews, not in scholarly specifics. Perhaps this "svalen" characteristic was an alternative explanation for the smell. It was a boon, regardless, if they needn't worry about wild animals because of it. Heike's affliction sometimes worked in that regard, sometimes not--most of the time it just seemed to shy horses away from her and not affect predators at all.

He sounded a touch agitated, Cauldwin did. She couldn't fault him. His situation was a wretched one, even if they evaded all of the men looking for him. Still he would be mired in the tar pit of a false accusation with hardly an avenue of recourse available to him. He had spoken confidently of what he intended to do back at the hunter's shack, yet still...it did not bode well to be alone and up against the corrupt Allirian forces scheming to his detriment.

Through the snow they trekked. The clouds above dispersing over time and the snowfall slowing to nearly nothing.

The overgrown and abandoned castle wasn't too far. They would not make it before the dawn came, but Heike reckoned that within two or perhaps three hours after the sun's rising they could arrive. What he would do there, she didn't know. Hide out for a few days before inevitably starting out on a new life, perhaps. The shadow of the false accusation would always linger over him if he remained within Allirian lands.

Eventually, and almost imperceptibly, it began to brighten. The black at the eastern edge of the sky softened to a swelling dark blue, and the inky darkness of the night was giving way to an early morning dimness where the shapes of trees and bushes and hills--as if emerging from that deep darkness--began to gain their definition and distinctness to the normal eye.

Heike pulled her hood up, followed by her mask. The sun was still below the horizon, but it and its harmful rays were coming. And it would be particularly tricky for Heike. Walking east meant facing the rising sun when it did show, and thus she would necessarily have to keep her head bowed so the daylight did not shine inside of her hood.

"And here it becomes most precarious," Heike commented as she walked. "Here we lose our advantage."

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

(As soon as day light began to break, their tracks were visible in the snow. There would be no hiding from this point. He followed until he heard shouting, they had been spotted. There was no doubt in his mind that this was of the vampires doing wasting his time so that daybreak would reveal him and she would claim whatever hefty reward was on his head. Suddenly he heard shouting, "Big son-o'-bitch right there!", he knew they were spotted, he turned to see a couple of watchmen running right towards them, albeit with more than a little trepidation in their stride and fear on their faces.

Looking further to his right he could make out dark moving figures amongst the snow in the tree line. The mascaraed was over, they had been found. *They*, more like he! He could feel his rage growing with every reevaluation of the days horrors. That damned vampire! She had a fondness for that watchman slayer! That was Heike's motive for betrayal: revenge. He was now whirling himself into a frenzy, he began to conjure up the plan of he truly believed Heike had had for him:

Oh, she was so powerless to stop him from crushing her lover who had killed, killed, two of his fellow watchmen. Just like the underhanded, dark-dwelling rat she truly was, she had planned this the whole time! To drag him through the woods until day light! Every misstep, her sudden trust in him, her desire to help him! He should have let her plummet into the abyss! He turned and looked down at Heike, the snarling teeth, his wild green eye, and furrowed brow: the face of rage and malevolence hidden behind his helm.

(OOC: now you respond so we can see how Heike reacts to all of this... THEN WE ROLL!)

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike snapped a glance back as well when she heard the shout. Damn! It had seemed that despite her earlier observation of Cauldwin being rather noticeable that they might actually escape the area without incident, but with the slow retreat of the dark it was not so. The snow, certainly, did not help them either.

The men were looking for Cauldwin, but Heike severely doubted that they would be enthused to see a vampire, much less one that was in Cauldwin's company. She knew what to expect. The problem, however, was that she viewed them as innocent men--she had no cause to think otherwise. So while they might seek to slay her, she was loath to lay so much as a finger on them, if it could at all be helped. Heike had faced similar situations as this before, during an infiltration of the Monster Hunter Fortress in Elbion and as well during a vampire hunt in Shadokien, and in both instances had conducted herself in the same manner. Restraint, even in the face of imminent death or grievous bodily harm.

The recourse was the same here as it was in the Fortress and in Shadokien: flee.

"We have to run!" she said to Cauldwin.

There were the two men from behind and more coming from the right, so Heike turned northeast and started to run away from them. She pressed one hand to the side of her hood and held it forcibly in place. The direct rays of the sun had not crested the horizon just yet, but the precaution was second nature.

She did not yet burn blood for more than normal human speed. With the snow on the ground hindering the pursuing men more than it would her (and hopefully Cauldwin as well, with the svalen in him), she might not need to. They would tire--she wouldn't.

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

Before the vampire could begin to run the Golem grabbed her by the neck, he had only been able to grip Heike by the scruff of her breastplates collar and thus she would easily be able to break away. He bellowed in a demonic roar, "YOU TREACHEROUS-!"

Heike Eisen

 

[Heike Eisen]

A hand. An armored hand. Grabbing the back of her coat and some of her wrapped shawl. Pulling her to a sudden stop.

"What? Cauldwin! No!"

The alarm of being found by the men was heightened further by the sudden, perplexing turn Cauldwin had taken. There was no time. Heike lurched forward with a burst of strength, pulling against the grasp Cauldwin had on her coat and shawl until she heard a tear and she went stumbling free. She recovered her balance some distance away. Turned and glanced back at him for a split second, eyes wide with shock. But her decision was made in an instant.

She ran. Away from the men coming their way, and away from Cauldwin.

He thought her treacherous. Bafflingly, he thought her treacherous. After he had found her, after he had asked for her help, he thought her treacherous. She had been mistaken about him in one clear regard: he did not trust her, and never had. Why he deigned not to kill her back at the cabin, and especially why he offered his blood, she could not say. But, she surmised, in the end she was to him what she was to many: a vampire, a monster, a leech, and nothing more. She had become accustomed to it, to the ostracization and hostility that came as the consequence of her affliction.

Maybe she was mistaken about more. Perhaps Cauldwin was guilty of the crimes for which he was accused, despite her initial estimation. She simply did not know with any degree of reasonable certainty. But the stark fact remained: even if she knew him to be wholly innocent, she could do nothing for him. He would not accept her help, and it was a danger to even be around him now. In Heike's experience no protestations of benevolence would sway those convinced of her perceived malice. Either someone was open to the possibility that she meant well, like Captain Bronmarch, or they were not. Hostility never changed into trusting acceptance.

It was overall good that Cauldwin felt this way about vampires. He should. But it did not do well for either him or Heike at this specific moment.

There was but one recourse left to her in this, and that was to withdraw from it entirely, leaving only the vague hope that justice would be carried out appropriately in her absence.

Heike ran. In a flat-out sprint, she ran. Acutely aware that her clothes had been damaged to some extent and the sun's direct rays would rise above the horizon soon. She would have to figure it out on the move.

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr

 

[Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr]

As the vampire escaped his grasp Cualdwins rage and frustration grew. He was becoming maddened with rage his voice becoming little more the demonic howls and furious curses. As one of the watchmen's axe became lodged in his armor he put his fist through the man's skull before throwing his corpse into a tree, he just kept roaring in that inhuman voice, "TRAITORS! TRAITORS ALL OF YOU!!!"

As he raged, he began to exude a dark smoke. As bolts, arrows, spears, and axes tore into his armor, he bled. Not the blood of a man but a sickly, inky, black tar that smelled of vinegar and rot. It poured down out his wonds and out his eye, making his armor appear almost as it had when it was first granted to him. The tar burned him, stung his flesh, but he kept raging, ripping men apart with his gauntlets, tearing of limbs, breaking spines, crushing skulls... He would not die in this foul place, not to traitors, and not without a fight. In his mind, he reflected on his current circumstances, his life...

Alliria was everything to him, it sheltered him, raised him, taught him all he knew. It was his mother, became that when he lost her, perhaps in some ways they are one in same, and he chose to protect her the only way he knew how. He was always a warrior, his only toy in youth was a wooden sword. He brawled in the pits for much of his youth, and he killed many. He had served Alliria unflinchingly, killing any and all who would threaten her. This was all he is, all he would ever be. A rabid dog to be sicked upon Alliria's enemies, and then put down when he outlived his usefulness. A warrior, too savage for civilized lands, but too civilized for savage lands. He had lived his way, and so, he would die his way: no quarter given.

Then, the watchmen that had encircled him parted a ways to let someone through. Slindrich had arrived. Just as Cauldwin was about to tear an orc in half, Slindrich snapped his fingers and a fireball flew right into the joint between Cauldwin's forearm and hand tearing his off from the elbow and sending him flying back into the snow with the force of the blast. He quickly tried to get up, roaring and raging, but again and again Slindrich snapped his fingers and sent a fireball right into Cauldwin, rupturing muscle and breaking bone though the rusted plate.

The barrage and the night search had left Slindrich exhausted, and Cualdwin was now bleeding from every pour, clinging to an unnatural fortitude but deathly tired none-the-less. Both of the men were tired, both of the men were furious, both of the men were determined... but in the end Cauldwin was overtaken by the sheer power that Slindrich's barrage of pyromancy possessed: the final blast that Slindrich's will could muster breaking Cauldwin's neck and hemorrhaging his brain.

Cauldwin only lay there in the dark muck of the warm mud made from the melted snow and earth, as well as the black tar that had leaked out of him, mixing together in some foul mixture. His life force was fading, so his mind receded into itself, either as a last effort from his body to cling to life or to give him peace before he ceased to be...

**************************************************

​

Cauldwin awakened in a circle of brightly lit snow, encircled by a wall of writhing shadows. Cauldwin pushed himself up from snow covered ground, he noticed his severed arm was reattached, as if it was never removed. How could this be? His armor had returned to the black iron he was given we he first officially joined the watch, something that filled him with pride and shame. Stranger still he could see out of his left eye! A sense taken at birth, granted back to him now! Looking down at his feet he noticed a chain fused to the graves of armor leading to the opposite end of the plane. Following it he saw not a bear, but a large, spined, hellish, black wolf.

The realm pulsed and shook.

Linked to the beasts neck was the silver iron chain, amalgamating with the creature's flesh. He and the creature took a step towards each other, the examined each others stance and immediately understood what they were, what he was. They, he, was Cauldwin's Svalen, his soul, the two halves that made up Cualdwin. Bloodlust and control: twin greeds forever chained together, never acknowledging one another as one in the same until the bitter end.

The realm pulsed and shook.

The shadows crashed over the circle of light and rushed towards the two, the two stood back to back, ready for the end and braced themselves for oblivion, but just as the wave of shadow would consume them, it stopped, and a voice spoke.

"CAULDWIN. YOUR LIFE HAS FLED."

"YOU HAVE DIED DISHONORED."

Dishonor, a fate a thousand times worse worse than death.

"I CAN NOT GIVE LIFE TO THAT WHICH IS ALREADY DEAD."

"HOWEVER: I CAN ALOW YOU TO COME BACK..."

"TO WALK AMONGST THE LIVING, TO EAT, TO BREATHE, TO SUFFER... TO TAKE YOUR REVENGE OR RECLAIM YOUR HONOR."

Existence as an abomination, for honors sake.

"...BUT ONLY IF YOU WISH THAT."

"DO YOU?"
​

Heike Eisen​

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike did not stop nor look back. There would be no quarter on offer from any of the men behind her. Cauldwin thought that she had betrayed him, and the men who hunted him she had best assume would see her as an enemy--a monster--and act accordingly. Her inclusion would only make things worse, and would unreasonably jeopardize her more pressing duty to Reikhurst.

She heard Cauldwin's shouting, the sounds of the pitched fighting, the concussive blasts of the fireballs. In this, the battle had been joined. And it was like when she was human and Reikhurst was whole, when she and the Order of the Golden Blade would receive news of wars and battles from other lands: it was something acknowledged at a distance. Something in which she had no true stake. Not anymore.

Heike ran deftly through the snow-covered forest. Gaining space from the engagement behind her.

After a few minutes, she spared a moment to slow her sprint to a jog and check the back of her coat. She patted at the damaged spot with one hand and kept her hood pressed to her temple with the other. Damn that man, there was a tear down through her shirt as well, exposing her skin beneath. She took off her shawl from being wrapped as a scarf around her neck, whipped it out and fully open--a large chunk of it missing as well, but it would suffice. She draped it over her shoulders and tied the ragged shawl tightly. Her hood was made much more loose by the damage to her coat, but that could be overcome by holding it in place as she had been. Now, at least, the hole in her coat was covered. She would not be able to use the diminished shawl as she usually did to hide her clawed hands, but that would not be much of a problem out in the wilderness.

And Heike continued to flee to the northeast.

Cauldwin Talson Valfnyr