Private Tales You can run...

[Eislyn Gray]

The guards were on edge. That hadn't been attacked since the orc troops last summer and they'd been dealt with...swiftly. This was far different. One looked to the other at Rayth's request and finally relented.

"No orders against seeing her," he finally said. His companion only nodded. They just wanted to be able to get out of the room. See if they could get other orders instead of just standing around and...waiting. Or glorified babysitting.

Eislyn was kneeling in front of two satchels on the floor by the time Rayth entered her chambers. Emotions masked, she turned, bracing herself. Fully expecting to see her father or one of his advisors. As her verdant gaze connected with his own, her features immediately softened.

Only for him.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Eislyn..."

Looking around, he realised that for the first time they were alone. The ground shook, distant screams filled the air before being drowned out by barks of orders.

"They wouldn't give me a sword...just a map out..."

It seemed a ridiculous thing to say in the situation. A mild complaint as they were finally united in privacy.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry it took so long to catch up to you..."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

She picked up both satchels with a heave of her arms.

"Rayth," her voice wobbled. There was so much she wanted to ask him. She wanted to explain that he had nothing to be sorry about. That she was the one sorry. That her father had sent men like that to her in the first place. That she was scared of losing him again.

But there was a hardening to her face and her mouth as she pushed a satchel into his arms.

The princess that used to travel these halls was long gone.

She'd changed since meeting him.

"Take this. Get out the map. We're leaving." There was another booming shudder as she slung the pack over her shoulder. Her hand did reach out and brushed along his back as if she needed to be sure he was really there. Really back.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth winced as he took the satchels. He awkwardly rearranged the weight over his shoulders. He didn't know how far they would have to go from this place to be safe. Rayth still needed more time to recover.

It wasn't just the wounds from sword and crossbow to his back. He had been left there to bleed out and die and only chance had an old friend stumble across his body.

"A friend saved me, helped me get here."

Rayth waved the map briefly.

"On the way out I need to at least show him this, he'll him get out of this place too."

The ground shook. It wasn't the sudden shock of another stone coming down. It was the slow rumble of the mages from the besieging forces trying to fill in portions of the city's ditch to mount an attack.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

She nearly stumbled as they took the stairs from the back tower down, down, down. That's how he survived. It was luck upon his friend. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Okay," her voice strangled with emotion in her throat that she tried to hide. Tried to push deep down and bury. "Lead the way. Where is he?" The tower door lead into a greater hall where servants and guards were scurrying to their places. To flee or to hunker down.

No one gave them a second look. After all, she had her hair back and was wearing ordinary travel clothes. One would have to take two looks to see that the princess was out and about.

There was a rumble beneath the city as though massive doors on ancient stone were being opened.

"We don't have much time," she whispered, real fear flitting along her pale skin.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

There was more to this than he knew. In fact, he was sitting at the bottom of a barrel floating through a whole ocean of shit he didn't understand. It had been so simple before. They were going to find themselves their own adventures, their own life. They had been dragged back into everything they'd tried to escape in the most dramatic way possible.

The door to the inn Hogarth was staying at was open. Inside there was just Hogarth, sitting at the bar. There were two empty bottles of wine in front of him.

"Where is everyone?" Rayth asked.

Hogarth looked up from his mug, clearly struggled to focus.

"Fuck me it worked. This is...eis..." He was slurring his words heavily. "She pretty..."

"Eislyn this is Hogarth, used to sail on the Paragon. We need to go."

"Others...they went and locked themselves in the cellar...left me..." he waved his arm to indicate the remaining bottles of wine.

"Time to go though..." Rayth cast Eislyn a sideways glance and moved to grab his arm.

"If you hadn't noticed...therrrs an army outside..."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

So this was the man who she owed everything to. The one had saved her husband. The one who risked everything to bring him here. Back to her. Saved his life.

And she found herself reaching for her magic. What had become so familiar to her only to feel nothing. Cut off since the mercenaries had slapped those irons around her.

"I'll buy you a case full of wine when we get out of this," Eislyn promised to him and came along his other side, taking his other arm. Swinging it over her shoulders as she helped Rayth support him.

"An entrance to the underground system should be in the alley out back," lips pressed tightly together. Hopefully the enemy hadn't found it on their side. There was suddenly a monstrous bellow from the night skies outside and Eislyn couldn't help trembling next to Hogarth.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Got a way out?" Hogarth asked. He was struggling to walk in a straight line, but with enough guidance he was keeping his feet beneath himself. He must have been planning of staying as drunk as he could until the siege came to an end, one way or another.

"Eislyn what the hell is that? Have they brought Giants to the walls?"

It was awkward to get the map out of his jacket pocket. He flicked it with one hand to unfold it. He'd tried to memorise as much as possible, but needed to rotate it to where they were going down.

"You have any idea where this brings us out?" Rayth asked.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"No," a harsh whisper. A flicker of verdant to Rayth's eyes, peeking around his drunken friend. She shifted the arm around her shoulders, trying to take on more of the man's weight.

"Worse than giants. A dragon."

And she had to wonder if they even needed to flee. If anything of the armies outside would be left. A dragon enslaved in iron just like herself.

"It should take us toward Bhathairk. A river running toward that city." If the tunnels were still intact. If they made it that far." An orange glow suddenly filled the night sky above them and they could feel the hit from their spot in the alley as the flap of sinewy wings filled the night sky.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

The mages had already filled the ditches beyond the city. Some of the soldiers were already over the walls. Now a dragon had been unleashed. Rayth had no idea how much control the King would have over the beast.

"Chaos," he muttered. It was going to be bloody chaos.

"I'm not going to feel all that thankful for your father, but I'll be fucking glad to be far from here."

Rayth thought there was every chance that if he kept his city in tact that he would come after Eislyn again. Perhaps not in the same violent manner, but just as doggedly.

"Hogarth, get on your godamn feet because I need to get a torch going."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Hogarth hiccupped and swayed. Eislyn gritted her teeth as she took most the man's weight. There were screams outside the walls now as fire engulfed the enemy. But there were more sounds from beyond the walls as well. More work from the mages to get beyond her father's iron walls.

Eislyn pushed against Rayth's friend, pinning half of him against the wall as Rayth let go.

"I know I owe you my life for saving his," she muttered to the drunkard. "But if you don't start doing as he says then we'll all be nothing but dragon food." He wheezed and tried to straighten himself, something else coming out of his mouth. "...aye 'ave to piss."

A mildly amused expression mixed with irritation shot to Rayth.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"We'll mark on your gravestone 'daft cunt stopped to piss in a siege'."

Hogarth running his own eyes. He pushed up off the wall before leaning back against it. He took a deep breath and then finally managed to stand.

"Yeah..." He said, looking out to the middle distance.

Rayth decided that would have to do.

"Are these tunnels going to hold?" Rayth asked, taking a torch. If they weren't in this city Eislyn could have just provided all the light they needed.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"Unless there's an explosion right above one," voice trailed off as she looked at Rayth. They didn't have another choice. Not really. It was either brave the armies outside. Stay among the chaos of war and the dragon or try these tunnels.

The tunnels were their best bet even if they weren't risk-free.

And she wanted to get out of this city. The magic in her very bones was screaming to. Yearned to. She could almost feel a restlessness beneath the damper of her power.

She stepped in behind Rayth as his torch provided the only light source. She could hear Hogarth shuffling behind them and for a moment, there was a zip of pants, a curse in the darkness, and then a steady stream. Her nose scrunche dup at the sharp, smell of urine.

Well, he'd been telling the truth.

She reached across Rayth for the torch. "You stay with your friend. I'll go ahead." There was no real bite to her words but she wasn't dealing with it. She took a few steps and came to their first fork.

"What does the map say?" A call back to Rayth in the darkness even as there was a rumble from above. Dust and small bits of rock rained down on their heads.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth likened the tunnels to being deep in the bowels of the Paragon. Being down in the dank underbelly where the crew slept was never pleasant. He had always hated that. He hated being underground here too. It felt oppressive. If he'd stopped to think about it he was certain it would have felt much worse.

"You stay with your friend. I'll go ahead."

"I'd rather not stay too close," he muttered back. Rayth stayed with Hogarth in his line of sight to make sure he didn't collapse.

"What does the map say?"

"You took the light!" Rayth called.

"You good?" he check with Hogarth. The man mumbled something that sounded affirmative.

He hurried after Eislyn and unfolded the map again. It had been crumpled into his jacket.

"I think its a left and...a right...I hope these red marks aren't traps if we take the wrong tunnel?"

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"Could be traps," she frowned, peering into the darkness. She couldn't see beyond the light the torch cast. She wouldn't put it past her father to do something like that. In case these tunnels ever were breached by the enemy. She'd never been down here before.

A glance over her shoulder, giving Rayth and Hogarth a chance to catch up. To use the light of the torch on that map.

Then she would go left.

For a moment, there was a skittering sound down the corridor. Her head tilted as she paused. But she didn't hear it again. If any one of them looked up, they'd see a network of some giant, white webs. She didn't think to look up, though.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth turned at the sound. It seemed like a stone loosened by their passage slipping down the corridor. It had been easy to press on, to dive into the deep with the war erupting behind them.

Now they were down here the darkness had become oppressive. This was worse than being below decks. No matter how dark it got or how much his mind could imagine sinking into the depths of the ocean, these endless tunnels were worse.

It was the thought of the light going out. The idea of having to crawl through darkness in desperation. Rayth barely registered the cobwebs. He was more concerned with the chance of getting lost than imagining any beasts down here.

"Feels like a long time since we entered these tunnels," he remarked. His voice seemed much louder now the sounds of battle barely caught up with them.

Hogarth grunted, but didn't say anything.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

“It goes a long way beyond the city and grounds,” she said quietly. A pause as she looked back at him and Hogarth. "You didn't act this way when we were in the dwarven mines for those weeks and weeks," a quietly mused observation with a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Wha-" there was a sudden sticky sensation looping around her wrist. The torch fell from her fingers toward the ground as her arm was yanked upward by a...a webby trap.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Dwarves build big, open underground cities," Rayth replied. He was thinking about the question as he spoke, swinging the torch back and forth as he went.

"This is so...narrow. And dark." Far too simple a way of describing how close the walls were feeling, when perhaps the answer was more that he trusted the dwarves to make tunnels that lasted.

The torch clattered to the ground.

"Eislyn?" he called out. Hogarth was muttering incoherently behind him. The torchlight showed her feet. They were dangling above the ground.

"Shit!"

Rayth dashed forwards, his panicked tone apparently enough to rouse Hogarth from his stupor.

Rayth grabbed Eislyn's shoulder, relieved to find that she was even alive. He held the torch high with his other hand. The flames burned through the thick strand around her wrist. The webbing was flammable.

It also revealed a collection of glassy eyes looking down at them.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

A brining smell filled their area as the strand that held her wrist captive smoldered and snapped. She dropped the few inches, arms around Rayth’s neck. But her attention never left the angry beast above them.

“Run,” a strangled whisper in his ear as she regained her footing and released her arms on him. He had the torch. The space around them began filling up with those shooting webs as the spider pursued them from above, trying to reel in a fresh meal.

She reached for her magic and for a moment, light flickered at her fingertips. They were still too close to the iron but...this was better than it had been. Up ahead empty husks of armor glittered the corridors. And as Eislyn ran, she saw dried out bodies inside.

“Oh stars,” she groaned.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth muttered all kinds of colourful curses beneath his breath. He started seeing creatures in all the shadows and couldn't tell if they were real or not. Perhaps a sense of the danger was why he had been so jumpy.

"Wait!" he called out, skidding to a halt. It was rusted and dull, but the sword beneath the empty husk of a man was better than nothing. He could probably crack the carapace of a spider with it.

"Hogarth can you stand and carry a weapon?"

"I'll fucking try," he grunted, finding a long knife.

"Let's not rush or we'll run right into a web!" Rayth hissed. His feet, his whole body, wanted to run.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Her muscles protested as she stopped. Ears strained as the skittering above turned impossibly loud in the space they were in. Turning, she pried loose a rusted shield from a body. She heard it up. Then a helmet in another hand.

“Duck!” She yelled as she straightened and threw the armor over Rayth’s shoulder at one of the spiders just descending. They were dropping down. And there was more than one. She felt a whoosh of air behind her and brought the shield up just in time to save her neck from pincers.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Fuck, fuck and double fuck," grunted Hogarth.

Rayth had been more focused on dodging pieces of rusted armour that Eislyn tossed past him.

"Wish you could..." Rayth grunted, stepping past Eislyn. He brought the blunt sword down as hard as he could. It made a gruesome cracking sound as it struck the spider's body. It's chitnous hide cracked, oozing ichor and the creature rolled away.

"...summon some light!"

Rayth turned sharply, holding his torch high. He strode forwards, fire first to scatter the spider that had dropped down ahead of them.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

“I’m trying,” she kept the shield raised. “Hogarth, keep up,” an urgent plea as she guarded Rayth’s back. The glow along her hands would flicker and spread then dim.

“We must still be too close to the iron.” A frustrated scowl on her face. Just a little further. She hoped.

A scooter above, has her pushing her shield up. Hogarth yelped triumphantly as a rusted axe went into the head of one. Dark blood sprayed down on him like a shower as he and Eislyn narrowly avoided being crushed by the body.

“Remind me to never save you again, Rathy boy.” He said as he wiped his hand down his blood spattered face.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"The mistake..." Rayth started, before having to abruptly stop before he ran into another web.

"Crap."

He hacked at the webbing. The blunt sword was better at collecting the strands than cutting through them nearly. Every second wasted was more time for the arachnids to catch up to them.

"...was following me when I didn't have a plan!"

It was a miracle her father hadn't just executed him on the spot.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

“Shhh,” Eisly whispered, her back pressing against Rayth’s own as she looked behind them. Shield up. Hogarth swiveled his head, still bring up the rear.

“Do you hear that? It sounds like water.”

Eislyn frowned. As Rayth’s moved, she walked backwards, trusting him to cover their front. She reached for her magic again. This time the glow extended beyond her hands. White light extending outwards a few feet in radius. Still not her full power. They must be too close to the iron.

But enough to provide them with more light.