Scrub a Dub Dub...

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu, with Marik perched around her neck, leaned against the palm of her hands as she patiently lip read the now furious Dram. She almost felt sorry for him; the woman knew she was scaring him with her questions, with her possession over the necklace. However, she knew better than to not take him seriously. There was a grim determination in his  eyes and body language that let her knew he wasn't kidding. Akenu sighed. The sad thing was, he was probably right; he could very well beat her in a fight, though she considered herself pretty deadly, especially with her weapons. But she had had her fun as well as her answers. Besides, she was tired of talking.

"So it's for personal reasons, more or less," she replied coolly as she removed the necklace, and set it down gently in front of him.
I hope you're happy.
Akenu gave a grim, disappointed smile and shook her head. She tossed to him  his tunic, and mentioned towards her good cloak, which he was sitting on.
"Put your shirt back on and use that as you will for the night. I want it back in the morning, though," she warned quietly as she picked up her own stuff and shabbier cloak.
"Good night."

The woman slowly got rose to her feet, and sat in the shadow of the den's entrence, pulling her knees up to her chin. She was exhausted, beyond it, but it would take her a while to fall asleep. Akenu rocked a bit in place. She needed this time to both think as well as to keep a quick look out. So much had happened that evening, so much...And all because he could his expensive trinket for whatever stupid reason? She didn't know why she was this upset- everything made sense, if she thought about it, hard enough. It didn't make it any less frustrating, though. Akenu moaned a little, a sound mixed with physical pain, frustration, and anger.
Stop acting like a baby, she mentally spat as  Marik cooed, trying to cheer her up some. The woman gave her friend a small smile and pet his head, a little bit more comforted as her thoughts wondered off to more important things, like where she would go next and how she would get there.

[Lion]

Bout damn time she gave it back to him.  Dram didn't like playing games, especially when it came to things that were no toy after all.  She mentioned magic or if the amulet was special.  Now that he thought about it, he thought it was curious that the bounty hunters had pressed after him so hard when they did.  What was another lost jewel to some rich snob that could easily replace what he'd stolen ten times over!  It wasn't like he stole the man's wife or anything! (He just took an innocent bystander when she tried to stop him from taking her horse was all, completely different right?)

He only grunted and snatched his shirt and the amulet back.  He threw the cloth over his head and began to fiddle with the thing.  It didn't look any different than any other piece of jewelry he's stolen before.  Maybe the massive ruby in the middle really was worth more than he thought.  If that were the case he wondered if he could get more if he just sold the jewel in pieces rather than as a complete article altogether.  Damn shame because it looked real nice too.

Dram took a dagger outside of his boot and began attempting to pry the ruby from the center of the amulet.  Damn that thing was secured on way too tight!  He pried harder and tried to jam the blade underneath it, but it still didn't budge.  He set the jewel on the ground and put the hilt of his dagger underneath his boot and started to kick on it.  The first kick sent the amulet flying in a sudden burst of electricity, zapping it off the ground and flying towards Akenu.

"HELP ME! HELP ME!  Please!  I'm trapped inside the amulet!  Please me out!"  a woman's voice cried from inside the amulet.  "Please!"

Dram stared wide eyed at the jewel.  "Did that thing just...talk?"

[Winters-Feather]

"Agh!" Akenu gave a startled howl as she rubbed her head. She had been so lost into her thoughts that the woman had been completely ignoring the thief and his pointless actions. It had scared her so much that she instinctively out a silver dagger and pointed it at Dram, her heart racing. She didn't say anything; her wildly puzzled and annoyed expression spoke for itself. Her gaze shifted towards the ruby next to her thigh, which she picked up. The woman arched an eyebrow.
He got all mad at me for wearing it, and now he was pulling it apart?

[Lion]

Dram stared at the amulet, still unsure if what he heard was completely real.  If it was he just felt his blood run cold and was suddenly swimming in a whirlpool of confusion.  Dram's whole body locked for five seconds straight before he registered that Akenu was reaching for it.  "Oh gods," he breathed, still clearly in shock.

"No, don't touch it!" he yelped.  "It spoke!  That thing SPOKE!  There's somebody trapped inside!"  He gave a horrified expression and scrambled toward her.

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu squinted her eyes as she tried to lip read Dram in the dark. He was terrified...About the amulet? It was hard to, at this distance, but what she made out didn't make sense.
What?
A person? Trapped in the jewel? Talked?
The woman scowled at the thief and gave him a questioning glare before holding the amulet up to the moonlight. She closely peered at the mysterious jewel.  Akenu twisted and turned the thing in the light and was about to dismiss the thing when a tiny face appeared before her. It was faint, like a ghost, but a sad, feminine face with wide eyes was speaking.

The woman inhaled sharply as Marik grabbed the jewel in his jaws and flew over to Elyin. He shrieked gleefully, playing with the shining, beautiful jewel. A ruby with a woman inside it.
"Marik!" she barked, sharply, and snapped her fingers. The dragon whimpered as she shakily pointed a finger at Dram, to  whom the dragon flew over and reluctantly dropped it into his hands.
Akenu found her body shaking, and hugged her knees to keep herself   from shivering severely.

"What was that?" she whispered, unconsciously signing her question out of habit. With a hiss, the woman sheathed her dagger,  held her things close to her body, and slowly walked over to Dram's side, again.
What in the name of the gods and all the spirits of this earth did he steal?

[Lion]

"A voice," he said, closer to her face so she could read his lips.  "Wait, you saw it!  You saw it didn't you!?  Did it say something to you too?  Maybe you can feel the vibrations or something."   Dram took the ruby and shoved it to Akenu's ear and held it there as the voice continued it's plea.

"You have to help me, whoever you are!  You have to get me out of here!  Annic will stop at nothing to see that I am returned, please help me.  You have to.  By the gods, you have to!"

Dram just stared at the jewel, then looked back at Akenu.  "What!? I didn't know it had a woman trapped inside of it!"

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu shook her head and sullenly tried to push the thieve's hands away from her ear as Dram spoke. He had good intentions, but it simply didn't work that way. Instead, she  tried to guild his hand towards the light so she could get a better look of the woman's face again, and try to catch a word or two. Akenu's plan was met with mixed success. She managed to pick up some words, though her understanding wasn't beyond that of she was trapped and wanted their help.
This means I'm going to be stuck with the elf for a while, doesn't it? she internally complained.
Way to go, princess.

She sighed and and turned her head away, a little embarrassed. The woman hated, hated relying on people like this, especially Dram, but it was dark and she had no choice.
"I have no idea what's going on," she whispered, "But it's ...it's too dark for me to understand her. Who put her in there? How? Why? Who is she, anyway?"

[Lion]

Dram rolled his eyes in frustration.  He wasn't gong to make things more difficult for her because she couldn't hear, but it seemed her lack of hearing was certainly going to make things more difficult for him.  He sighed and thought quickly.

"Oi, this could work," he said before he unsheathed his sword that was on the ground and angled the blade against the moon so that it could reflect the moonlight.  After a couple of tries he was successful and angled the light against the ruby, revealing more of the ghostly face of the woman trapped within.

"Whoatever you are, lady, I did not understand what you said," Dram remarked to the ruby.

"Annic," she repeated the name.  "You have to free me, or he's going to destroy my soul.  You have to get me out of here!?"

"Why?  And who are you?"

The woman in the amulet fell silent and began to utter sobs.  When she regained herself, she looked up at him, "My name is Andreya Thornblood...and I was his wife."

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu watched as Dram sighed in frustration, but then quickly seemed to have an idea. She watched him questionably as he unsheathed his sword, which caused her to again reach for one of her daggers, though the woman didn't unsheathe it. Akenu watched as he twisted the blade in the moonlight and nodded in approval; he had enlarged the image of the woman's face so that she could lip read it. The traveler observed her features in the blade; she looked of Serenian birth with her delicate features.

Akenu quietly mimicked the amulet's woman's gestures, determined to understand her fully.
The woman's name was Andreya Thornblood, married to Annic Thornblood, a man who was trying to destroy her soul.
Thornblood, Thornblood....
Akenu's mind whirled as she tried to remember that strangely familiar name. Where had she heard the name Thornblood before?
"He's that alchemist," she muttered as she cradled her head in her hands. The woman had defiantly conducted business with him before. At least, she conducted business with his servants, selling them herbs and medicines, mostly. She didn't know too much about him personally. He was rich and was nobility all but in title and had an eccentric and expensive taste in jewelry. Yes, that was it....Akenu had remembered him observing her earrings and had deemed them "insufficient." At least, that's what she thought she had lip read, but he wasn't that pleasant of a customer.
He had a wife? But why would destroying her soul profit him?
"How do we do it? Do you know why?" she asked.

The woman doubted the woman would know (or she could be lying), but it was worth a try. As Akenu expected, Andreya didn't as she shook her head, to which Akenu responded with a tsk.
She turned to Dram.

"We need to figure out the properties of this amulet before we can attempt to free her," she suggested as she  started to prepare her cloak as a pillow. The woman sighed, irratated.
"Until we get her freed, I guess I'm stuck with you," she muttered as she laid herself down, her hands folded across her chest.

[Lion]

None of this was making any sense to him.  He didn't know who this Annic was and knew only that he must hate his wife an awful lot to want to trap her inside of the jewel.  Dram wondered how he was even able to do that!  Did he stuff her whole body in there?  Did he kill her first and work out some weird enchantment!?  Was Annic some nutjob that needed to get offed lest more innocent people get trapped in jewels?  And the more he thought about it, he figured this Andreya must have done something awfully bad to piss her husband off enough to wanna kill her?  For all they knew, maybe the damn woman deserved it.  Dram couldn't say he blamed him.  He had enough crazy women in his life.

But it seemed that Akenu had all the answers.  "An alchemist you say?  Ah, now that I think about it, I remember seeing something of an alchemy lab around his home.  This jewel was hard enough to get as it was and now it makes sense to have him want to send bounty hunters after us...well, after me.  But damn if he wanted to get rid of this woman, wouldn't he be glad that I took the amulet?  That just doesn't make any sense," he said clear to her face.

Andreya looked at Dram as her face slowly faded from the ruby amulet.  Dram set the jewel down on the ground and glanced at Akenu with wide eyes...  He still shaken up an confused from the whole thing.  "I guess so," he muttered...  "Um....can you hold me?" he said with wide eyes.

[Winters-Feather]

"I don't know," Akenu replied to Dram's question about Annic. This whole situation just left her all the more sullen. It didn't really make all that much sense to her at all, not to mention she didn't want to be reminded of that evening's misadventures.
I'll ask Dram whom he stole the ruby from yesterday, she thought, determinedly, for that was another thing she didn't have an answer for.   It was also true she had just jumped on the wagon to help save the woman, but how did she know if she could really trust Andreya Thornblood's word? Not to mention she had a business to run...Akenu rubbed her temples and yawned.

She opened her eyes to find the elf giving her a pleading expression. Akenu rolled her eyes and made a rude noise. In response, Marik playfully landed on the thief's chest.
Traitor, Akenu thought with a scowl.
"Leave him alone," she muttered as she closed her eyes and, before long, drifted off to sleep.

[Lion]

Dram didn't know how he did it but somehow he scooted close enough to her and buried his face in her hair.  He didn't put his arms around her but instead slept with his arms around him.  He fell asleep quickly and without too much movement, and woke up just before dawn.

He started a small fire and looked through Akenu's things to find cooking utensils to spice another rabbit he hunted that morning.  When he heard stirring, he looked back and nodded.  "Good morning, sweetness.  Breakfast is almost done."

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu woke up with a jolt. She couldn't sleep all that well, and her chest hurt, even more so because she had stupidly bolted. The woman curled up in a sitting position with a hiss, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was past dawn- she had woke up late. Why did she wake up late? Her eyes found Marik first, who was nipping at her tunic.
Good morning, she thought as she sniffed the air.
Something was cooking, and it smelled good. Alarmed, she quickly looked towards where Dram was sleeping- he wasn't there. Instead, he was ...cooking.
Bewildered, the woman with bed head and wide eyes could only gawk at his question.  

Wordlessly, the woman slowly rose to her feet to join him by the fire. Not even bothering to speak, too tired to process he probably didn't understand what she was doing, she signed the word "Thank you" before taking the rabbit into her hands, diligently. She nibbled at it to find that he wasn't that bad of a chief and dug in. Akenu was raised to be practically a lady, but she was famished. As she ate, she noticed that he had rummaged through her things to get the stuff needed to cook the meal. She shot him a questioning glare.
You better not have stolen my stuff.

[Lion]

Dram grinned at the woman for half a second before munching into his own meal.  The meat was good and filled the coldness he suffered in the night for not having finished the rabbits he'd hunted before.  He hated wasting perfectly good food.  But he blamed the bounty hunters that had interrupted their meal and the woman in the amulet, that he'd tucked away, for making him feel sick.

Dram looked at all her things rummaged through on the ground and he glanced at her, swallowing on a dry throat.  Stay cool, Dram, stay cool, he told himself.  "Okay!  Okay!  I took some rings you had," he bellowed after five whole minutes of saying nothing.  He pulled open a pocket on his utility belt and took out three rings.  

"They were banged up anyway!  It wasn't like you were gonna miss 'em!  Don't look at me like that," Dram said and bit down into a leg with irritation.

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu didn't have to be told he took something from her; the guilty expression on Dram's face told her all she needed to know. She gave an annoyed frown as he spoke, finishing up her rabbit as well. Finally, when she was done, Akenu quickly leaned forward and slapped Dram right across the face as she snatched the rings.  They were undercoated, steel belly button rings; she had been meaning to fix them up, but never had the time to.
"Idiot," she scowled as she pulled up her tunic to reveal her belly button piercing to illustrate her point.  "They're bent like that for bellies. Attempt to steal from me again, and I'll cut something of yours off, and don't count on me to heal those wounds, you understand me?"
Akenu glared at him to make sure he got the point; really, she was treating him like she would a very ill-behaved pet.

The woman sighed as she went back inside the den to clean up her stuff, as well as double check on everything. Dram was at least honest; that was all he had stolen. Thankfully. After Akenu finished cleaning, she the woman strung her bow and quiver over her shoulder and went outside, past Dram. She had a somewhat embarred look on her face. The woman needed to saddle up Elyin, but first, she really, really had to go pee.
"I'll be back in a minute, then we can leave," she muttered as she quickly half jogged, half walked into the forest with Marik on her tail.

Akenu returned two minutes afterwords, and wordlessly saddled up Elyin and hooked the bags to the side of it. Before she jumped onto her mare, however, the woman turned towards Dram.
"Where do we head first?" she asked, "I think we ought to ride to Arca, which is a good week's ride north from here, if not more. It'll probably be easier  for us once we get to the border... "

[Lion]

Oh she was asking for it, if she was going to slap him like that.  He didn't take much abuse, he wouldn't stand for it if she was going to treat him like that.  He'd had enough of that kind of treatment in his youth and he was a grown-ass man to be letting somebody come and smack him like that.  He wouldn't hit her now, but if she didn't watch her step, he wouldn't think twice about hitting her back.  Dram only glared at her and shrugged about the rings.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Sorry," he said, though his tone didn't sound like he meant it.  He didn't say anymore before he stood up and stretched, letting her leave without another word and grabbed his own gear from up off the floor.  He didn't have much on him and he looked at the amulet, thinking it was strange that the woman didn't appear there this time.  He tapped the surface of the ruby and frowned when nothing happened.  He just wrapped it up again and tucked it in his belt.

He strapped his sword on his back, tying the strap across his chest and looked at her when she came back.  "Why do we have to cross the border?  What's in Arca that we can't find here?"

[Winters-Feather]

Akenu  shrugged, a bit defeated as she started to collect the utensils Dram had used, and wiped them off as best she could before packing them, making a mental note to clean them more thoroughly later.
"There's probably nothing for us back in Ketra," she said, slowly.
"I figured Serendipity would have places that have enough magical knowledge to help us, let alone not having the fear of bounty hunters on our trails. Though..."
The woman paused. It was true she felt that way; furthermore she wanted to feel safe and not have this additional hassle in her life. Furthermore, there was the issue about Andreya. She claimed she knew nothing, but that could have been a lie. Not to mention the only lead they had was a name of a powerful enemy. Akenu silently cursed in her mind as she got on Elyin, giving the mare a  gentle pat. Marik flew over to her shoulder, ready for the journey.
"Unless there's a closer destination you have in mind," she added.

[Lion]

Dram made raspberries at her and shook his head.  "Those bounty hunters will go wherever their target is, laws and borders notwithstanding.  Haven't you ever been chased down before?  Oh, pfft, what am I saying, of course you haven't," he said clear to her face to make sure she caught everything he said.

"I don't have a closer destination," he said as he vaulted onto the back of Eylin.  "I have a further one.  It might take some time, but if we're going to figure this out we'll need to go to the one place where magic runs stronger through the veins of it's citizens than any other.  We should head to the north, to the ice, to Darken Vei."

[Winters-Feather]

"Because they never had a reason to!" Akenu snapped back as Dram stuck his tongue out at her.
You know NOTHING about me.
However, though she felt as if he was in the wrong, the elf did had a point; of course bounty hunters would chase them wherever they went.
Great, she sarcastically thought. The woman was going to have to fear being hunted for  what could possibly be the rest of her life. How comforting.

Akenu made a frustrated noise as Dram continued to speak as he hopped onto Elyin. Behind her. Where she had to  turn around as much as she possibly could in the position they were in just to make out some of his words. The woman was really only able to make out his last ones.
Darken Vei?
The woman bit her lip. Darken Vei was perhaps a better place, it was true, but it was so far. It was going to be a long, long journey.
"Fine," she agreed as she turned around, "But we're going to be passing through Serendipity, anyway. We might find a clue or two there. Try talking to her, again."
Akenu added these words rather stubbornly as she shook the reigns and dug her heels in. They were off.

[Lion]

Dram had visited the frozen place before, though why he had he couldn't even remember.  All he knew was that he met two worthless nincompoops that tried to drive him crazy with their stupidity and constantly getting in his way when all he wanted.  He was glad he put them behind him now, but the thought of returning to that place did put a small chill down his back.

As they started off, he held on and unwrapped the amulet he had tied to his belt.  "Erm...lady Thornblood?" he asked.  Nothing happened.  "Andreya Thornblood!"  Still nothing.

"Oi!  Wake your ass up!"

There was a spark, a stirring and a face appeared in the ruby.  "Have you found a way to free me, yet?"

"Not yet, Thornblood.  But I think first you're going to have to tell us about this husband of yours.  Why would he want to destroy your soul?  What would that accomplish?"

The lady in the ruby shook her head.  "I do not know for sure.  Perhaps it is what I know.  Perhaps he fears that I will haunt him when he enters the afterlife.  Maybe he's trying to take what power I have to take it for himself.  It does not matter.  But you must free me; it is the only way to destroy him."

Dram looked at Akenu and told her everything the lady said, angling his head to get in front of her face as possible from being behind her.  "Well, would that be a clue?"