Our next week-ish- of life at our keep was a fairly slow paced on, especally after everything that happened. Talron took himself off without another word, and there was nothing left for us to do but relax the rest of the day. We couldn't even get through our portal, 'cause Ann's insanly intemidating father was in there still examining it.
We wanted- needed to get into Talron's offices to warn him one of his officers might very well be the werewolf we'd encountered in Nabudel, but we couldn't even do that.
He was, apperantly, too busy, and I for one wasn't willing to create a mess to see him right now. So we went to see Garenar, the little goblin that I spoke about earlier, and then up to our rooms for rest for the evening.
The next morning, we managed to track down Talron, and- damn.
From moment one, I've said no matter what title he bore, he would never be anything but- well, Talron. I mean, it felt like moving from Lord to King wouldn't matter to me. Why should it- he was still my friend and my....well, someone I care about. A lot.
But when I told him I didn't want to reveal my information in front of his officers, and he advanced on me, I felt, for the first time since meeting him, intemidated by him. Seriously, it was- the very first time he ever managed to cause me to feel- really, really small. And I meant to just out and have it out with him, the way I always did. Normally, when he's upset or I'm upset with each other, or pissed off or angry or whatever, we have words. And yeah, he typically wins. He's older then me and he's got the power here, primarily, but I never just roll over and show my throat to him. I've never felt like I needed to.
Today, for all I wanted to, I couldn't lift my voice above a fucking whisper. I told him that we thought the danger was from one of his own gaurds, and he didn't say shit to me. He just stopped towering over me and walked away.
My intemidation turned into a cool, rolling anger in a second-span. I have a temper, and very few people manage to spark it the way that confusing enigma of a man.
And don't go saying he's not, either. A warrior who plays music and helps clean up after a meal, a leader who considers a spitfire scrap of a teenager and a young, proud elf to be worth listening to and working with, a King who wore no crown, a man that came near tossing Ann out on her ear but lets me come near cursing him blue, proud but humble, a man who risked his life for us when he barely knew us, more then once, who came to us again when we needed him, who gave us so much and asked for so little in return. An enigma. A good man if there ever was one.
And never, not once, have I been frightened of him until this day. And being scared of him got me pissed. That he went out of his way to scare me pissed me off. He does shit like this- I'll be all gooey over what a guy he is then I'm ready to tear him into strips. Or is that treason to say, now? That I'd sometimes like to shake him until his brains fall out his ears, then stuff them back in for him? If it is, I'm in trouble.
So just the second he turned away, my anger burned away my fear. I held my tounge as he is my King now, and with these men around, I would not challange him. I knew, right then, the minute he pulled that, that I was not Semei talking to the man that was her friend and ally. I was one of the Ladies of the keep, and I was refering to my King.
It was weird as fuck, feeling that click into a differant attitude, almost a differant persona.
He walked away from us, and the rest of the conversation we held with another- gaurd? Someone who wasn't Talron, who didn't seem all too fond of me or Ann. He asked us if we had an item on us that might have allowed the werewolf or our Man in Black into Nabudel, as, he said, there was no way they were in the courtyard when we headed there. They found some other way to get there, and it was a possibility that he'd been there before,even though Talron apperantly did not remember seeing him there.
And so with that, we left. We told Talron we were leaving for the citadel again, and he surprised me by asking- all by himself, like a big boy- how long we would be gone.
I still said nothing- I bite my tounge hard, and the only thing that slipped out was a sarcastic- 'My King' in farewell, rather then a typical goodbye.
We headed back down, and Ann then wanted to see about Shoulwater. We found our portal was still very blocked off, though, as her father was inspecting it. So we again, just took the rest of the day easy. Until the next morning, when we discovered our fish shipment was late. We went down to find out why, and this time- this time we found out her father'd been in there two hours with no word. Ann's reply was simple and had no room for argument. If he wasn't out in the next fifteen minutes, we were going in. And so up we toddled, to our rooms to get our things. My dagger, her bow.
When we came down, he still wasn't out. And so, ignoring the scolding and warnings of her father's- um, companions?- we went in after him.
We came out inside a damn fish tank. Honestly, we did- a fish tank made of magic.
We were pretty far under water, it looked like, and surrounded by a dome of sorts. There was nothing around us, but when Ann wandered around, exploring, we discovered a corridor that suddanly opened in front of us, as if the bubble around us expanded. It took us down an empty corridor, to another sphere on the other side- and then, studying it and discovering we couldn't open any other doors and get through to the other side, we found at least two more of much the same type. All lead us down corridors to stare at rooms and portals much like our own, all with doors sealed on our end to keep water out and us in.
And fish. really, really fucking big fish.
We put the light out when we saw those babies- we did it fast, too.
We kept up this searching pattern until we finally found our man- and he just about took us out before he realized who he was looking at. It's not a nice feeling, coming up close and personal with an elf a step from send something likely really nasty spinning your direction.
It's really not that much better when he folds his arms and glares.
"Anjha?" He asked, his voice all dissaproval. I couldn't help it- I started to snicker. And I couldn't stop, even when he began to lecture us. We, two fully grown (erm, okay, mostly grown, at least on my part) women were scolded like childern, and honestly, I can't say I remember the last time I got that from anyone but Ann, and that's more like getting chewed by an older sister. She didn't seem a quarter so abashed as I was.
He also refused to tell us anything about our portal or what was in it. Our portal. But in any case, we argued like wildcats to find out what was in there and everything about it. But he refused flatly, unless we swore aligance to the citadel. And we weren't doing that, not today and not anytime soon.
So we were none to gently put aside and he began his work again- whatever it was he was doing. I only trusted him because he was Ann's father- frankly, the man scares the fuck out of me, even though I know it's silly. I highly doubt Ann's father is going to turn around and bite me. Just give me looks of what seems to be faintly amused scorn.
Ann is fond of saying 'stupid humans'. Oddly enough, I felt more like a 'stupid human' in front of her daddy then I ever did around her. And he did rarely more then look at me.
Soon after, we were cornered by Thandriel, who I think I already wrote about, and given the same twenty questions game about the werewolf in Nabudel. We asked- Ann and I, that is- Dagen about it, too, but he knew about as much as we did. Nothing got resolved, and then the infirmed people who were supposed to arrive did.
And then the show started.
These were not mildly deformed people, I'll start by telling you. Some of them, as much as I hate to admit it, were rather hard to look at- they were not pretty. But they didn't get scorned by anyone so far as I could tell, and shuffled their way down to where the base of our statue was. And they acted as if our statue was there, as if it wasn't an empty base, and started to chant softly. We all just- watched, quietly.
And then Ann sneezed. Now, see, few weeks, maybe months now, back, this same entity gave Ann a disease that was deadly only to ghosts. We used it to defeat a very bad ghost of a man who lurked inside our mini keep when it was still little. And whenever she was near or interacting with our little group, Ann would typically sneeze.
I did, once, too, when I said something wise ass and got her angry.
But now, I sneezed without having said a word. Everyone was staring, now, and then Thandriel, sneezed, and then-
-and then everyone in the entire fucking Keep, it seemed, sneezed. At just about the same damn time.
A few minutes more, and we went back upstairs, to rest for our trip back to the citadel.
At least, until the cold breeze hit us in the face when we headed into our rooms. We inspected both throughly, then, on Ann's hunch, went to the window.
And we heard a scream.
A maid came out of the room a few doors down from us, all paniced and frightend. She was claiming that she'd seen a ghost 'die'. Fucking hell, a few hours later she wasn't the only one, and Talron had men moving to stations as if we were in danger.
I highly doubted we were- I remembered the sneezing, and what this entity had done with Ann. I doubted we were in much danger, now, anyway. But everyone else was in a frenzy and even Talron was upset and worried, afraid- a fear I shared, dispite my idea that it was the same ghost disease- that this was Garenar's doing, thanks to his obsession with necromancy. But it was not, and Thandriel confirmed my origonal thought when everything was done and had calmed down.
We headed out soon after that, and headed back into the citadel as we'd planned, looking for a place called The Den.
The man who took us to this place towared over all of us, a freakishly tall and slender man who spoke- damn, this man's voice. Every word seemed as long as he was and took an enternity to get out of him. His companion was a man who seemed more dog then person, who's skin had the faintest blue tinge. He wasn't stupid, per sey, or didn't seem to be, but- not exactly whip-fast, either, maybe.
His tall companion, though, for all he spoke as slow as honey, seemed to think twice as fast as his words escaped. He took us back where we needed to go, and had us touch a stone after speaking a momen with a woman behind a desk. With the sound of a huge- thing- moving, a door opened, and we stepped through a portal-
-right into The Den. A huge, huge carvernouse area, I think the first thing that caught our eye was the giant scarabe carved into the wall behind us. Big shock, that- everything around this place seemed to have to do with them, I was finding.
A man approched us as we stood and stared, dressed like some wanna be hero from a fairy tale with the oddest, fucking ugliest hat I think I've ever seen. He tucked it off and under his arm as he came up to us, and brought us into the main area of this place.
It was packed to the brim with every sort of undesierable you might want to imagine- like stepping into a huge cage full of wildcats. No matter who you are, you're going to stop and blink a bit upon seeing that. But we made our way in with little hesitation, and then stopped.
Now, did we stop because we were abruptly assaulted? Because we suddanly saw an enemy? Because we saw Ann's long-lost compaion? Because my husband stepped out of the masses? Because we saw yet another man being beaten to within an inch of his life?
No. Oh, of course not, no.
We stopped because we had no idea where the fuck to go first. We stopped because we'd walked in here without a plan, and now didn't we look stupid? We were finnally approched by a man who looked like he'd do anything for the right price, just about, and I moved in front of Ann maybe in a way that was a little protective.
He offered to get us the information we wanted for a price we named, and took us to a man who claimed to 'deal in information'. He told us a lot, and most of it meant nothing to me, honestly- it only meant a thing because it mattered to Ann, and I knew I'd be going with her to get her friend, chances are. I mean, I don't have to, of course- but I think I will be.
She is, apperantly, as we thought, somewhere to the west- in the desert. The old man spoke in what seemed to be mostly stories that were likely just that, stories- but you never knew what was true, anymore. And west was the direction she'd pointed us in once before, through a series of clues.
When we left the man, I was more then willing to go home. This place just did not seem like the best of places to hang out, and not the best of people to hang out with. But Ann was determined as fuck to make the most out of out situation. And so we wandered around for a bit, exploring and just trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible with the heavyness of where we had to go on our shoulders. The suddan certianty that we had no choice.
It was about then Ann rememeber Lim had gotten our Ginsing from this place, and we set about looking for the man who'd given it to him, even though we had no idea where to start. We found the man who'd brought us into the main area. And we simply got laughed at and made fun of when we asked how to get out, and second guessed when we asked about how to find the man who made our- creature?
He asked us, 'who is the leader's brother?' And while he'd told us that this was a place he'd lived at, he'd never mentioned realitives. So of course, we had no answer, and almost with true regreat, the man in the odd hat told us he couldn't help us. We went back for the man who had told us where to find Ann's friend, but he wanted payment, and far too much at that. And so we hit a wall and got stuck at it.
We headed outside into the town surrounding this area, and that's when we found something I didn't fully expect- though half-way did- to find here.
In a tavern, we found a small group of men with scarab beatle pins attached to themselves. They ranged in color from silver to bronze, apperantly a ranking of sorts, and they stayed close lumped. It took a deep breath and a more curage then I thought I had to approch them, donning as best I could an innocent, empty-headed attitude, much as we'd had with Simon's friends.
I said the first and only thing I could think of. That's pretty.
That's pretty?
What the fuck, Seimei. What the fuck, girl.
All the same, it got their attention, and managed to irritate the hell out of him when I refused to say where I was from. He saw through my stupid- and bad- act without trying, and from moment one it seemed to be honesty for honesty. He'd seen what Ann and I could do, making sure no one messed with us in this place, and didn't for a minute seem to think we were empty-headed girls.
Ann didn't want any part of this group, and protested that this is what we'd hired Simon for. True enough, but then, if another door is opened for you, why ignore it just because someone's already creeping in the front?
It didn't work out anyway. He asked us a question, and our answer- it wasn't good enough for him. It's stupid, because I rather lied when I answered him.
He asked if we agreed with the empress. I basically said 'I don't know'.....and I don't think that's my answer.
I think, in a lot of ways, it's a no. But see, I also know I don't know a lot about what she's doing or why, and I'm not going to speak and get stuck in an answer I have to backtrack around later.
I've got no problem at all with lying if I need to, but I make a rule that if I'm going to lie, keep it simple and keep it easy to get out of.
This group was neither, or so it seemed.
So maybe it was a good that we didn't get in with them- particuarly after we asked around. We discovered they were an extermist group on one side or the other of the empress and the citadel, and there were several differant branches of this group- we'd delt with one rather closely....the group that delt with the animals. They seemed to think that animals- creatures- had achevied some sort of higher state- in their simplistity, somehow become better? then humans.
It was when we went wandering back inside, looking for more information on it, that we discovered a huge door made out of entirely mechanical gears. Rather then figure it out and go inside, instead we allowed ourselves to be lead away by a man that claimed he knew about our 'clock', as everyone called it.....our metal creation. Or 'the', maybe I should say, as I doubt he was ever owned by us.
The man we spoke with was not the most friendly or trust worthy of creatures- large and exentric, with a greasy, unlikable feeling about him, he was confrontational, rude, agressive, and without paitence. He refused to give us information unless we brought him a specimen to study, and suggested we join something called 'The Hunt'.
Now, here, Semei's brain should have gone put on the fucking breaks, wait a minute! but no. I was arrogent and confident, I disliked this man greatly, I wanted to be gone, and I didn't stop to call a reality halt. I let Ann have the reins and lead the team, and I should have learned by now to never, ever fucking do that.
But nope, I let her lead me out of there and right up to the ship we needed to go to to join up in the hunt without so much as asking around first, too annoyed and anxiouse to be out of here to do any more then let Ann run with things.
The captian of the ship was saw was half clock work, half human....and very fond of mocking us and calling us 'frillies'. This was when apathyu turned to oh hell no, you did not just continue to mock us, and I felt myself sliding into the same cool place I'd been when holding a dagger to Simon's throat-I can't describe that place. I know it's this kind of click over to a place where I am utterly calm inside, no matter how I seem outside, completly eager for a fight, proud, collected, and should not, in any way, be touched or challanaged.
He was challanging me. Us.
A flying creature on a mountian to the- you guessed it, friends, the west- surrounded by a malstrome, terrofizing dwarves that lived on that mountain. The captian called it, perhaps a wyvern or something of the like, and gave us 'no time limit' to get this thing, although the Hunt was only over when this thing was killed.
Yes, killed. That was the part that snapped me awake, that yanked me away from my strange calm. They would take it's 'spirit', I guess, and use it to run- yep, that's right, our 'clocks'.
I stopped likeing this whole thing right then and there. Yeah, killing it? Fine, I've killed things before. Capturing it? Less pleasent, but yeah, okay, whatever, just make it worth it. Hunting it, fun. Fighting it, a nice challange.
This, though- this seemed painfully wrong. But it was too late to back out, or so we were told as the captian walked away.
He doesn't, apperantly, like people who go back on their agreements.
I don't give a fuck. I've got more important things to worry about then this stupid game, and if he doesn't like it, he's more then welcome to offer a fight. He and his lot are utterly unimportant in my mind, unless and until I'm given a reason to think otherwise.
And so here we are- likely about to try and head home.
And then?
I'm going to have words with a certian King.
Wonder if his chambers are boobytrapped?
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