Private Tales Words Not Made to be Believed but Obeyed

[Liliana]

Liliana read the letter, her brow furrowing in consternation as she went over it line by line. Lips pressed thin, and her head tilted just the slightest bit as Amell mentioned ‘code’.

She had some knowledge in cryptography, and with some time she might have been able to crack if there was a hidden meaning within the words, but all she saw in the moment were mad ramblings. The interpretation Amell offered made her glance up at him.

None of this made any sense.

Why would they have been sent here with this? Who was framing them? Someone at the Academy? Another of the noble houses? Liliana didn’t understand, she didn’t know.

Frustration flickered through her chest, teeth sinking into the inside of her lips. The lack of information was utterly enraging. She felt like she was in the dark constantly and was growing tired of it. She wanted to know, wanted to understand. Not just this but everything. All those missions she had been sent on, what the Republic was doing, even what her cousin was up to.

In that moment something settled in Liliana’s mind, but first she would have to get out of here.

”If you believe we genuinely came here to firebomb this camp.” Liliana said as she looked back up at Amell. ”You’re dumber than you look.”

She taunted. ”I mean, Urahils and their lot always did look a little bit inbred.”

Liliana mused, smiling again and shattering the meek mask. ”With how that moron Leander behaves I was starting to believe it…this?” Liliana shook her head. ”I’m starting to believe it.”

 

[Amell Quillon]

Amell had looked smug, victorious even. He knew the letter didn’t make any sense, and he felt a sense of pride to show her and see the frustration in Liliana’s orange eyes that she couldn’t decipher it either. He had expected her to speak about the letter in one of three ways: to once again deny knowing this was the letter that they had been given, to admit they didn’t understand the letter either, or to try and offer their own thoughts on the letter. All three of these options would be done to help prove their innocence.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew they wanted to leave. Maybe the initiates would offer their services in trying to figure out the culprit or they would have said about contacting the Academy again? What Amell didn’t expect was to be insulted. He became rigid, looking straight into Liliana’s eyes.

A cold fury, all ice and tundra and subzero temperatures that radiated in his glare.

“Insult my cousin all you want, Lady Lorel,” his voice was low and deep, “since you like hiding behind your cousin while you speak.” He leaned forward. “But when you insult me, initiate. Know. Your. Place. I have served Vel Anir for nearly half my life and I shall continuing doing so in the North, protecting you, your family, and your cousins in Central Vel Anir. Which is more than you ever plan to do it for it and its people, I’m sure.” He hovered over the blonde.

“Now I think an apology is due for your ignorance.”

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Cousin.

Okay, that meant he was from a Minor House like her, which also meant that he had slightly less authority than she'd thought. Liliana wondered if that was a good or bad thing, but at the very least she had made him give them something else.

That was good. "Ah, I didn't realize that by imprisoning and beating little girls you were protecting us."

Liliana countered flatly, not entirely sure if she was referring to themselves…of the creature they had befriended in their hovel.

She was now walking a very careful line. Guiding Amell into vetting angry enough that he would beat Evie, but not angry enough that he would imprison them both. He had to want to get rid of them, or at least not see them for a few hours. The noble chose her words carefully.

"This document is a farse, written by a madman or someone with an agenda. I don't know why, but we have nothing to do with it." To call it fake would be too complimentary. "The only crime we've committed is defending ourselves against a lot of brutes."

She looked up at Liliana, doing her best to be obstinate, defiant, but not unmoving. She wanted Amell to be frustrated, to want to be rid of them, but she didn't want to push him over the edge. "I will be more than happy to apologize, when you release us and see us on our way."

Briefly, just ever so briefly, she allowed her eyes to flicker to Everleigh. A mask of concern darting across her face just long enough for Amell to see.

A quick lure thrown out. Come on.

She thought.

 

[Amell Quillon]

A tight cord stood out against his neck and as Amell swallowed back his angry words, inhaling deeply as if that could somehow ease the indignant flames in his chest. The exhale of breath through his nose was slow and deliberate.

“Right, seems you forgot about our agreement.” He turned away from Liliana, centering his gaze on Everleigh. “Such a shame, she doesn’t look like she has much fight in her.” His boot kicked at her already bruised ribs, causing Everleigh to grunt and whimper. “Really, they’re not making dreadlords like they used to, are they?”

Another kick, then another, and another.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh was forced to roll over onto her stomach, beginning to curl up into herself like a dying spider. Her hands and arms were over her head and she managed to pull her knees underneath her. Her rounded back did little to save her from Amell’s kicks and it wasn’t long that he was driving the heel of his boot down and onto her lower back.

She knew she had to follow through on Liliana’s plan, but at this rate she wasn’t sure how much she had before she would be knocked unconscious. The pain was engulfing her as if she had been cast out into the middle of the sea. Agonizing wave after painful wave was beginning to make the purple initiate feel numb everywhere. Even her mind was getting foggy, tunnel vision taking over when she did manage to open her eyes.

Like a viper, Everleigh forced herself to move, striking out and taking hold on the leg that Amell was using to support himself. She clung onto his leg for dear life, even as he cursed her and took hold of her long braid, a fistful of her hair in his large hand as he jerked her head back and forth.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Liliana nearly bit through her tongue as Amell turned and began beating on Everleigh.

The rage she had tamped down rushed back towards the surface. Rising in a fury as she watched the Guardsmen viciously attack what was hers. Lips pressed into a thin line, and her teeth snapped together as she watched her companion throw herself at Amell's leg.

"Stop!" She called, knowing this was the moment. The second that Everleigh needed.

Liliana just needed to draw the brutes eyes. "Stop!"

She called.

"It won't do you any good!" The noble called, allowing some actual despair to flicker through her voice. "I don't know what you want from me! I don't have any answers!"

Liliana cried, finding that the truth was easy to tell in this moment. She really didn't have any answers when it came to the letter. Neither of them had any reason why it had been given to them, neither of them knew...fuckall.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

She could feel it, the split second, when Amell’s attention was focused elsewhere. He had stopped jerking her head around, something that was more annoying rather than painful usually but her previous injuries made any sort of movement uncomfortable, and could feel a twitch in his hand. It was strange, Everleigh realized, Amell was a contradicting conundrum of things: he had frightening strength yet his hand could go slack so quickly like it abhorred violence, sometimes she saw him move in slow motion and in other times it was like he was moving so fast that she must have been absolutely still.

But when the chance presented itself, Everleigh couldn’t let the pain that made her mind numb and vision hazy to ruin their only chance at escape. There may not be another moment like this, and at this rate, Everleigh could only be so useful as a punching bag. There was no promise that Amell would keep her alive.

And she had no desire to die here.

So she reached up and pulled on Amell’s knee to make him lose his balance. She hadn’t noticed it, although in the future when asked, she would lie and say she did, but Amell’s knee was weak. Weaker than it should be for anyone who was in the Guard. He fell on top of her, a shout of pain before cursing her.

It was easy to grab his keys without him noticing.

 

[Amell Quillon]

It was embarrassing when he fell over. Amell was unable but to follow his body, a crack and pop in his knee that echoed like a dry branch broken in half. He was on top of the purple initiate, his body easily caging hers in a way that might have looked erotic if they came in now and didn’t understand the type of man that Amell was. His face felt tight as he shouted before cutting off his own cry of agony by clamping his teeth over his lower lip.

He whimpered, a pitiful, miserable sound. He was still as he tried to collect his composure. At that moment, he hated both of these initiates. He wanted them dead. He wanted them to be stoned alive. He would make all the elves watch and show them… show them what? Anirians turning on their own?

No, that would be a foolish mistake. It would let them get ideas. He needed order, Felix demanded that of him. And Amell would use the one gift given to him that may have been magic all on its own: authority. He took a deep breath and then slowly began the process of extracting himself from Everleigh.

His touch was gentle and perhaps that was why she stopped resisting him. Fair enough, he’d take this truce. He had to use his desk to help himself up, wincing as he did so. He looked at his knee. It would swell tonight, perhaps get three times bigger. Amell sighed.

“Lady Lorel,” Amell leaned over and took hold of the forms. “Understandably we are not seeing eye to eye. I’m placing the two of you in solitary confinement. Maybe tomorrow you’ll feel like filling these out, hm?” It was just at the right moment that one of the brutish guardsmen came into the small office, having heard Amell’s shout. “Perfect. Just on time. Take these two into solitary confinement. Keep an eye on them. I have other matters to attend to.”

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Liliana bit her tongue as Amell fell upon Everleigh.

She stopped the taunt that had been slipping across her lips, quelling that innate impulse and reminding herself that in the moment she was still helpless. She was chained to a table, surrounded by enemies, and for whatever reason they already knew that her magics would not work on Amell.

There was nothing she could do, and another insult would only offer the Guardsmen more of a reason to keep them here. No. She had to stick to the plan. She had to keep herself quiet and watch as Everleigh finally took the moment Liliana had made for her.

No sound escaped the nobles lips, but she practically jumped for joy as she caught the subtle moment.

Her face was an implacable mask as Amell stood, gesturing towards the two Initiate's and sending them to solitary.

Two guardsmen stepped inside almost a second later, one heading directly for Everleigh, the other motioning towards Liliana. Slowly she stood, pulling herself up from the desk and moving towards her companion. She leaned down there for just a brief moment, catching the poison-eaters eyeline.

She mouthed a single word as her hand touched Evie. Key.

Liliana said, outstretching her palm for just a brief moment so she could catch the small hunk of metal and conceal it. Then, once Amell was gone, their plan could go into action.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everything hurt. As the guardsman roughly picked her up Everleigh realized that she couldn’t see out of one eye and her vision in the other was hazy at best with the tunnel vision that was threatening to close in. She barely saw Liliana but she could easily fill in the blanks, having memorized every single feature, even the number of pores on her nose, of her face. Something was twitching. Her lips?

That’s right. The key.

Everleigh couldn’t breathe, focusing everything on getting the key to Liliana. She was known for her precision with throwing blades, the absolute best in her class when one took Noel or Ella out of the equation. Not to mention her sleight of hand was without a doubt the best in the entire academy. So it should be easy, no, this would be easy. Just don’t think about it too hard and…

With what Everleigh hoped was sly and unnoticeable, she tossed the key to Liliana and only afterward did she release the breath she had been holding. She coughed out blood and the guardsman lifting her up grunted.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Everleigh was in a haze.

Liliana could see it from the way the girl moved her eyes, how she shifted. That beating had been bad, really bad. A frown pulled at her lips, wondering if Evie would even be able to-

Before she could even finish the thought Liliana saw the metal flicker. Her fingers tightened for a brief moment, and she swayed. Everleigh shifted, and then tossed the key. The young Initiate shifted her feet, and then in one quick motion snapped up the little piece of metal. Stumbling forward at the same time to cover the swift motion.

"Hey!" The Guard behind her said, quickly grabbing a her shoulder. "Don't get any ideas."

The giant of a man hisse,d his voice a gruff rumble as he leaned in towards Liliana. His hand pressing down on her skin. Filthy degenerate.

Liliana thought to herself, clasping the key between her two palms and following along with the guards.

Before long they went down a corner, and Amell was out of sight. Liliana glanced back over her shoulder once, and then quickly slipped the key into her cuffs. She was careful to make the motion subtle, not slipping her chains even as the lock gave a tiny click which she covered with a fake sob. "Cry all you like, Girlie, you're goin in the ho-"

A crook of the finger. That was all it took.

The weave she threw was a test, the first that she had learned in fact. Her head turned for just a brief moment, and a smile drew across his lips. A smile brought on by seeing a familiar expression in the Guardsmen's eyes; Adoration.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh was being dragged, she had managed to stand up, even take a few steps, but after tripping one too many times, the guard in charge of her thought it better to just grab her by her braid and use it like a rope to pull her along. She still tried to walk but her steps were small and short and she was still prone to stumbling. The guard didn’t adjust his speed or stride for her.

“Fuck.” Everleigh spat out, stumbling again and barely having the time to catch herself with her hands before the guard was already pulling her hair, causing her to just stumble again. He stopped. Not because of Everleigh.

“Why are you stopping?” He asked his comrade. Everleigh was on her hands and knees. “Hey, Boris,” he went towards the guard and Liliana.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

The moment he took his first step, Liliana decided his fate.

Drawn back by confidence within her magics, the Noble's fingers twisted. Chains now free, she threw not a weave, but a net. A carefully and intricately crafted bit of magic that was drawn over the other Guardsmen's mind within the blink of an eye.

The effort it nearly cause Liliana to stumble, her knees growing weak, her heart almost seeming to skip a bit. For a moment she struggled for breath, the toll of the weave hitting her like a brick.

But it was worth it.

Liliana saw the change flicker over the man. The slight hint of annoyance in his face gone, the agitation with his comrade disappeared. His eyes instead flickered to Liliana, and there she saw the depth of what she had taken from.

Perfect. She thought to himself, and then whirled on the man whom she had only caught with a weave.

His eyes lit up as soon as he saw her face, as if blessed by the dawn after a thousand years of night. He peered down at her expectantly, as if her words would have been the very breath in her lungs.

"Please." She said softly. "You have to help us. Please. That man...that man..."

Her eyes widened, and she took half a step back as if trying to get even farther from where Amell had been. "He's...he's going to hurt us...please...you have to help us get out of here. We're not elves, we're not bad...he's...he wants to..."

Her lip started to quiver, and the Guardsmen's face flickered with a mix of emotions that even she found difficult to track. "O-of course we'll help."

Boris said, though she could see the fight in his eyes. The gears slowly turning in his mind as logic fought against magic.

Liliana crooked her finger, taking a breath as she adder another thread. "Thank you."

She said softly, and Boris the Guardsmen finally faltered. His head tipped in a nod, and he motioned to his firend. "There's a back way out of the Camp...in case of an Elf attack...you can slip out through there..."

The man spoke quickly now, protectively, and Liliana knew that she had them both.

A smile drew over her lips, though it disappeared almost immediately as her eyes flickered to Evie on the floor. Within the snap of a finger Liliana stepped forward, letting her chains fall to the ground as she stepped up to her companion. "Evie."

Liliana said with a shocking amount of compassion.

"Are you alright?" She asked quickly, her eyes flickering up to the guards. As she moved to use the key and free Evie's bindings. "Can you walk?"

She had been stumbling, barely able to make their way, but if they were going to get out of here...

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“I can walk.” Everleigh lied, taking her time in standing up as if that would give her some boost of power. It didn’t. Her face was a mess. She knew she looked worse underneath her clothes. Amell was a large man, nearly a whole foot taller than her. He was made of brawn and muscle, his boots and fists had been heavy.

Everleigh was aware of what she lacked. Size. Strength. Durability. Without her magic, bound as she was, she hardly felt like the initiate she was and felt more like the average Anirian off the street. She wanted to spit blood onto the ground, to clean her mouth from the overbearing taste of iron, but she was unable to do so in fear it would give them away.

If they were to sneak away she didn’t want to leave a big gob of blood for Amell’s men and dogs to find.

“I can walk slowly.” She said more honestly. With a sound that was half a sigh and half a chuckle of resignation, Everleigh added, “I can’t really see right now.” Which was the biggest issue for the poison eater currently. “But.” She tried it, could feel her magic. Perfect. “I can use my magic.” And with that, there were endless possibilities.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Rage bit into her once more as she inspected the state Evie was in.

How dare that man do this. How dare he touch what was hers.

A scowl drew across her lips as she silently raged besides her companion. Fingers gently grasping her side and shoulder as she helped Everleigh stand. Concern flickering over her features as she saw the wobble in the poisoners legs.

Briefly, she glanced towards one of the Guards. Debating having the man simply carry her, but knew now wasn't the time. "Good."

She said, glancing over her shoulder.

"We're going to get out of here." She said, then pulled herself from Evie and moved towards the two Guards. "Boris, please..."

As she spoke, the Guardsmen's eyes turned towards her again, the emptiness within them almost haunting. "Show us the way out."

For a second, a heartbeat, the man lingered, and then as though uprooting a tree he lifted his leg and began to move. Falling into a quick stride, in a noticeably different direction than before. Liliana gently grasped Evie again, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her arm over her shoulder.

Her eyes then turned towards the other Guardsmen, and without a single word bent the hollow man to her will. Tugging at the threads she had placed upon his mind, and like a marionette pulling him upon her string. She pulled the man towards them, moving him directly behind herself and Everleigh as though he were holding the girls chains.

Making them support each other, so he did not have to carry the poison-eater.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Pathetically, Everleigh leaned against Liliana, needing her support. She hated it only because she was weak. Her body seemed so incompetent compared to her mind which was still alive and processing everything at breakneck speeds. But her body? It was failing her when she needed it most. No wonder why Tinker always thought his dolls were better. Everleigh couldn’t run even if it would be the only thing that could save her now.

She had to get stronger so her body couldn’t fail her again like this. Everleigh hadn’t thought she slacked on her physical training but perhaps she had? And with Graduation right around the corner then she couldn’t afford to continue this slothfulness in her training. She knew the initiate she should ask for help.

“Where are you guys going?” Everleigh paused. She didn’t turn. The elven girl from before sounding from behind them.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Liliana froze.

Her fingers had been clinging to Everleigh, holding her weight tightly enough against her side that she practically seemed to carry her. Her eyes had been flickering in an almost constant and paranoid fashion. Watching anything and everything moving around them, darting back and forth…only to miss the little Elf girl from before.

It would have been absolutely chilling if it were not for the fact that it was absolutely infuriating.

Liliana’s features turned instantly red, her tongue finding itself tied as she was wrapped in a mixture of humiliation and fury. How in the fuck had the soldiers missed the little girl. How in the fuck had she missed the girl?

And what the fuck was she supposed to do with her?

The little miscreant was as argumentative as could be, and spending the next few minutes trying to convince her of one thing or another would be disastrous. She could scream, she could get them caught. She could give everything away.

In a moment of impulsive decisiveness Liliana’s eyes flickered to the Soldier standing closer to the girl. ”Grab her.”

Without even a second of hesitation the Guardsmen reached over and snatched the little elf. His big bear arms wrapped around her, one hand almost instantly wrapping over her mouth as Liliana’s intent was made known through the weave.

The girl froze, instantly taking a breath to begin screaming but Liliana let out a loud whispering hush.

”They know.” She whispered quickly to the girl. ”We have to get out, now.”

Panic flickered through the girl’s eyes, followed quickly by despair, then fear. Liliana watched it, she knew exactly what the girl was thinking, and then she continued. Speaking words without thought. ”You’re coming with us, everyone who knows has to go. Stay quiet, not a peep. Understand?”

A mixture of relief, terror, and confusion drew through the girl, but without a peep…she nodded her head.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

The girl was quiet. Everleigh turned just enough, seeing her wrapped up tight in a guard’s arms, hand still over her mouth. Wrong time at the wrong place. Before the revolution happened, would Everleigh have turned around and gave her a quick and painless death thinking that it was the ultimate mercy? Perhaps in Aina O Ka La it had been, when that boy discovered her and Edric.

Everleigh was frowning. The situation wasn’t like that one. It felt similar. About to make a getaway and then getting caught by a child, a innocent bystander. That was when Everleigh looked at Liliana, or as best as she could. The tunnel vision was a bitch but she could turn her head to the general location of Liliana’s voice.

“What about the others?” Everleigh croaked out in a feeble whisper.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

There was a second, a beat, her gaze flickered to Everleigh, to the child.

She didn't care. She didn't give a single fuck about any of the elves still stuck in their cells and paddocks. All of them could die for all she cared, what she wanted, what she needed was to get the fuck out of here. She could feel her heart quickening in her chest, the panic rising.

Her breath quickened, fingers twitched at her sides.

Then they snapped into a fist.

"You!" She hissed at the Guard whose mind she had bent to her full whims. The man looking down at her in rapt attention almost instantly. "Go."

Liliana demanded. "Open every lock, every door. Free them and when the chaos starts shout for others to do the same."

She cared not for the elves, but the chaos they would create would cover their escape. That was enough for her.

The words spoken, Liliana whirled around, turning on the man holding the girl.

"You, you..." There was a hint of actual desperation in her tone. "Take us out."

She pleaded, pulling Everleigh closer and setting off. Intent on leaving this horrid place.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

She knew better. The chaos would hide their escape. Some elves might be able to escape, many would probably end up dead. However, Everleigh couldn’t help but to smirk— or to the best of her ability— at the idea of that blonde brute having his hands full in getting all the elves back into those little hovels. She almost wish she could do something else to make it harder for him, but there was little time to figure out a better plan.

Her and Liliana were on the move with the guard still holding the elf child. Gritting her teeth, Everleigh did her best to not slow them down but she knew at this point she was the weakest link. The elf child could probably walk circles around her with ease.

Just as the group of four could see the back door in sight, yelling could be heard. Elvish and Common intermingling into a unbearable dissonance. Everleigh could smell something, something that just wasn’t the metallic tang of the blood crusting around the inside of her nostrils.

“Our horses.” Everleigh said. “Are they still…?” The guard paused, keeping one arm around the elven child so he could reach for his keys at his side. Her mouth was no longer covered as he searched for the keys

“Alive? Yes. The stables are near this way.” Everleigh nodded her head and the door unlocked. The guard opened it, letting the initiates step through first before following after them. Everleigh recognized the smell then. Sickly sweet. Bodies were being dumped here in a large ditch not far away. There was a wooden lid that had been hastily crafted to help with the smell but the closer they got to it, the more the lid failed in doing it’s job.

The elf child cried out. A head was poking out from it, ears cut off. Even with its rotting face, Everleigh could see the finer details of it’s incredibly round face (elves always had that more ethereal and slimmer face) that matched the roundness of the elf girl’s.

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

Liliana's eyes became wide as saucers as the elf girl cried out. The sound of her voice somehow more distressing than the stench within the room. There was something abhorrently...real about it, something that even the most die hard and reverent xenophobe could deny.

Pain lanced through her face, the wail that escaped her throat was heart wrenching. Even Liliana couldn't have denied that. Her fingers twisted around Everleigh, dragging her companion forward and towards the girl. "Shhh....shh...shh."

The Initiate begged, sweeping forward and reaching out to grab the girl with her free hand.

"Shhh." Her fingers softly touched the girls face. Not violently, not angry, her fingers crooking. She drew a single thread, a single cruel thread. A numbness would befall the girl, a lack of feeling. "We're leaving."

Liliana whispered. "We're leaving to some place better, okay?"

"Hey! You hear that?"​

A voice called out from beyond, the sound of footsteps coming closer.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Sniffles could be heard from the girl but it seemed with Liliana’s touch, the girl was soothed. She still hiccuped, soft and quiet, unable to hold her composure like Everleigh and Liliana would have been able to do at her age. The trembling, pitiful frown of the girl was enough to make Everleigh see her as pathetic, and not in a bad way.

It made her want to wrap her arms around her and hold her tight against her chest. But it seemed with each passing the girl made less and less noise, and suddenly any emotion that could be seen in her eyes was gone completely. The girl looked at the two initiates bovinely, like an animal that had no idea it was about to be slaughtered.

Everleigh didn’t have time to curse as she heard the voice of a man close enough to them cause concern.

“You three.” Everleigh said. “Get going. Come back for me.” Covered in bruises and blood Everleigh was a mosaic of pain personified. She shifted out of Liliana’s grip. “I can’t control my magic well. It’ll affect you too. But I can get them off our back.” Even if it was the blonde brute. Her magic was creating poison and venom. Perhaps Liliana’s weaving hadn’t worked, whether that was due to something that protected his mind or maybe something that nullified magic in general, but if Everleigh could get enough of her poison gas in the air then it wouldn’t matter.

“I don’t have much left. But it should be enough to put them to sleep.”

Liliana

 

[Liliana]

The girl's mind was dulled for now, but she would recover, likely with a haze of just how she had escaped or gotten to where they were going. Liliana turned away from the Elf, her attention rounding onto Everleigh as the voices echoed in the shack beyond.

Two cross impulses struck her at once.

One, the instinct to protect herself. That intrinsic central need to put herself above anyone and everything else. Liliana, after all, was the most important thing. Everleigh's life was more than worth giving if it meant her escape. Anyone would agree to that.

Yet hesitation pinned Liliana to the floor.

She did not have many left, not many who she could trust, and Evie? Evie she could rely on more than...teeth sank into her lower lip, fingers flickering as she nearly began to weave her threads. Not in the mood to hold any more arguments.

Hands snapping firmly to her thighs as she made her decision."Two minutes."

She hissed, her eyes squeezing shut, head tipping down.

"Two minutes and then I'm sending the oaf back to get you." He wasn't much use anyway aside from a slab of meat, and she could carry the girl herself. "Make it out."

Liliana said, turning away from Everleigh as she moved to follow the others into the tunnel. Rubbing at her face.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“Two minutes.” Everleigh agreed, already beginning to count the seconds in her head. One Vel Anir, two Vel Anir, three Vel Anir… there was no point in holding herself up anymore. Everleigh slowly knelt down, an awkward affair that had her trying to position her weight and lean in such a way that wouldn’t cause more pain than she already felt. She gave up and just fell onto the ground.

Seemingly just in time. No sooner had she thunked her face in the hard dirt did the door behind them open.

“Why would it be unlocked?” She heard right as she began focusing her arcane might. She bit her tongue, the pain seemingly less than the beating she had taken from Amell. She needed to bleed more than she was currently, from a place that could spread into the air faster. She’d keep her mouth closed until…

“That’s the bitches from yesterday!” She heard three sets of boots hitting the ground as they marched through the door. She felt a heavy, blunt weapon press at her back, prodding her softly then harder. Then in some form of crude, cruel humor, she felt it press in between then under her ass cheeks. Another prod, but harder.

She kept still without making a sound.

“Who killed her?”

“Where’s the other one? Blondie?”

“If you look here, there’s other footprints but… well, that could’ve been from yesterday. How can you tell if tracks are fresh?”

Everleigh still kept silent, even if she rolled her eyes all the way into the back of her head. Now these idiots wanted to discuss things? A slap along the back of her calf. Still she didn’t move or squeal.

“Wasn’t she just in the office with Smelly Amelly? How’d she get out from under him?”

“Who cares. Just throw her into the ditch.”

“But don’t ya gotta—“ Everleigh had enough, already more than a minute had passed. With all the quickness she could muster, she rolled herself over, releasing her poison breath into the air. It looked more like a purple mist from her mouth that quickly invaded and conquered the clean air around them. The men fell down to the ground immediately, but the door remained wide open. Everleigh turned her head, looking back at the tunnel.

Any moment the lackey would be returning but the purple mist remained. She wouldn’t be able to get out of here without help. Rolling back onto her stomach and beginning the painful process of getting back up, she strained her ears. When he would arrive, she’d need to keep the poison from effecting him as well. It would require all of her mental concentration, to attempt such a thing. She had done it before, briefly, but it was really just her making the poison inactive in a certain area.

She was in the middle of it, the man would be moving. Did she try to blow the poison mist away? Looking over her shoulder with the wide open door, she felt that perhaps she could use a bit of wind magic to get most of it away from her and the guardsman. Yet if someone smart noticed the purple haze, it would cause suspicion. With her purple hair and eyes, she could only assume how obvious it would be that it belonged to her.

Everleigh couldn’t risk a chase. She looked forward, seeing a shape moving towards her. Her best option would be to draw the poison out of him, not matter how often or how much he took in. With her eyes glowing gold, Everleigh reached up once he extended his arm down to her. She couldn’t speak, wouldn’t dare to even try it. Slowly but surely, they walked out of the purple haze and began the long way down the tunnel to where Liliana and the child were waiting.

Liliana