A New Face at the Colosseum

[JackieCat]

The bottom of the hole was about forty feet down, and the Feari leaped off the ladder and onto teh stone ground when it reached the last few rungs.  They were in a tunnel, the ceiling about a foot higher than a man, but everything was pitch black.  The Feari could see in the dark, but it wasn't sure if the human could, it didn't think so.

There was the sound of dripping water, and the ground and stone walls were damp.

"The sssewersss," the Feari hissed. "The tunnel up to the arena wasss made long ago by essscaping ssslaves.  I have lived in Essssyrn for my whole life, and I know placccesss. . ."

The Feari started forward, then it stopped. "Can you sssee?"

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan almost fell for the last two rungs and he felt dampness all about him.

It was dark and he felt some what boxed in, the darkness cloying all about him.

"I cannot see a thing!" He said, an edge moving into his voice.

"How long does this darkness last?" He said his words choking a little....he had spent time locked in small dark places as punishment and he hated it.

"Please just keep talking....let me know you are close!"

[JackieCat]

The Feari hissed in frustration and walked back over to the man. It extended it's wing out and up.  "Take the tip of my wing, I will lead you through the sssewersss."

The Feari looked around, there were three tunnels branching out from where they were, and the Feai chose the one to the far left, it knew where they all led.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan reached out to feel the wing tip, his warm hand touching it lightly and so they started foward in the pitch black. Slowly the sound of uproar above faded as they traversed the stone tunnels further and further away.

It was done....an escape made.

It was true the first instinct was to go and search for his lover, but they would expect that.....so where could he go....where might he hide? He thought about the creature that led him.....where did it come from? Had it a place to go to? A family?

[Jelenis Tythe]

Slowly as they walked through the dark Talan thought he could see a pinprick of light in the distance.

"Where does this lead to?" He asked.

He hoped it was far enough away from the Arena to make good his escape and for the creature to make theirs. It felt good to be free of the iron shackles and collar, to feel the warmth of the fire in his blood once more.  It had felt even better to release it in the Colosseum and see the place start to burn.

He hoped the Master would lose his arm....serve the pig right....he had suffered enough beatings and worse at that man's hands.

[JackieCat]

"Thessse are the sssewersss," the Feari hissed as it continued forward. "They go all around under the cccity."

As they neared the light up ahead they could see it was where a manhole cover had slipped aside, letting a thin shaft of light down into the darkness.  There was a ladder here, but the Feari passed it by.  Up on the streets shouts could still be heard through the crack, they were still to close to the Colosseum.

[Jelenis Tythe]

How much further would it be in this dark and stinking place?

It felt like the walls were closing in about him and he wanted to be out, out in the fresh air, preferably some place far from him, perhaps by the sea, laying on the warm sand with Goldeneyes next to him.  They would be free, free of their cruel masters...free of the whip....free of the chains.

What did the creature next to him want?

Where did it want to go?

He felt somewhat sick, the smell of the sewer starting to turn his stomach, he swallowed and tried not to breathe in the stench.

"How much further?" He asked tightly.

[JackieCat]

"Not far," the Feari hissed in answer, then it stopped and sniffed the air.  It had smelled the rotting stench before the man had, but now it looked around for the source.  Its black eyes fell upon a human corpse.  The Feari stepped forward, sniffing at it.  It had been down here for a while, by the smell of it, and under normal circumstances, the Feari may have taken a bite, for even though it wouldn't kill humans to eat, if here was a dead one, what was the difference?

"A body," the Feari hissed, to tell the man why it had stopped.  Then it started walking again. "Humansss have namesss," it said unexpectedly. "What isss yoursss?"

[Jelenis Tythe]

"Talanis.....most call me Talan." He said in response to the question.

He tried not to think about the corpse and whatever else might be laying down here in the dark.

"What about you? I have not seen your kind before coming here?"

He wished desperately for fresh air, bathing might be a good option to after leaving this stink hole.

"How did you end up back there?"

[JackieCat]

"I have no name," the Feari hissed. "And my kind are not easssily captured.  They would rather die than be captured.  I do not fear death, but I do not welcome it, though many of my kind are indifferent, they do not care if they die, but before they die they want to kill asss many beingsss asss they can.  But I am not like them, I am not quite as bloodthirsssty.  I was captured, though I did manage to kill ssseven men before they managed to sssubdue me. . ."

The Feari hissed softly, as if relishing the memory.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan contemplated what the creature said, it was a creature of death indeed.

"When we are clear I need to to try and track one who was taken from me and sold on." He said softly.

"Goldeneyes was a fighter too, the Master sold him out of spite because I defied him."

He wondered whether the creature understood this, about bonds between others.

"I love him and will not leave him to a life and hardship....he does not deserve it."

[JackieCat]

"There are many who do not dessserve the livesss they have," the Feari said. "Sssome are evil, and live in luxury, othersss are innocccent, but are ssslavesss."

The Feari looked back at Taking, even though the man couldn't see it.  "How are you going to find thisss Goldeneyed one?  Do you know who he wasss sssold to?"

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan tried hard to remember the details.

"He was sold to some sort of travelling caravan...the master said he would be sold as a whore to them, having to please both men and women of the camp." He said softly, he hated the thought of it...his beautiful Goldeneyes at the beck and call of any and their guests.

"I saw the emblem of the caravan on a saddle blanket, it was a star over a palm tree...does this mean anything to you?"

If the creature knew this and the routes this caravan took he might find his lover once more.

[JackieCat]

The Feari listened as the man described the emblem, and a smile spread across the Feari's face in the darkness. "It meansss much to me," the creature hissed. "But why ssshould I help you?  I already sssaved you life onccce. . .

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan glared back in the darkness in the direction he thought the creature might be.

"I think that goes both ways...thanks to my interference you were able to escape....now tell me about the insignia....who are they!"

He felt the heat rise in his veins, there was no iron to hold it in check now, it raised with his temper as the creature taunted him with the vital information.

"Who are they?" He snapped more angrily this time.

[JackieCat]

The Feari hissed menacingly at the man's sharp tone, and it pulled its wing out of his grip sharply, so h was alone in the dark.

"Thessse sssewersss are filled with all manner of thingsss I am ssure you would not like to meet, human!" it hissed. "The floor is riddled with holesss, large enough for you to fall into, ssso I would not advissse that you move right now.  One falssse ssstep. . ."

The Feari trailed off. "Ssso," it continued. "If you want to get out of here alive, I sssuggessst you do not tessst me.  I could kill you now if I wanted to."

[Jelenis Tythe]

Talan balked at the threat, he had not left one master to be threatened and bullied by another.  The creature had pulled away its wing and he stood alone in the darkness, he hated the dark and the first reaction was to want to bring forth the fire and shed light about him, but he refrained from it.

"Fine...if that is the way you feel....kill me then!" He snapped.

"Leave me in the dark if that is what you choose....but make no mistake I am not defenceless."

He straightened and glared in the direction he thought the creature was.

"Tell me about the insignia please." He tried to soften his tone a little.

[JackieCat]

The Feari stepped closer to the man, and nudged his hand with its wing.  "I do not wishhh to kill you," it hissed in a softer tone. "I jussst did not like your tone."

It was silent for a moment, then it continued. "The insssignia belongs to a rich lord named Fisssan Threemsss. . .  I know of him jussst from hearing about him, and I have ssseen him a few timesss in passsing.  He hasss two large manor houssesss, I heard.  One here in Esssyrn, the other in a sssmall town on the edge of Adela.  From what I know he isss on hisss way there now.  I asssume that your Goldeneyed one isss in the manor in Adela, sssimply becaussse that isss the grander mansssion.  If you want to catch them, you ssshould hurry." 

[Jelenis Tythe]

He took hold of the wing again.

"My thanks for your information." He said simply.

What would this Fisan Threem want with a golden eyed elf male as a slave in his household, surely only as some sort of exotic amusement and the thought of it made him feel sick.

"Do you know what sort of man this Threem is?" He asked gently remembering to be polite, the creature seemed to respond to that better.

[JackieCat]

The Feari nodded, then it remembered that Talan could not see it. "Yesss, from what I have heard, he isss cunning, and cruel." The Feari started forward again as it continued to speak. "He isss tall, and thin, with long black hair.  But all I know isss from hearing it on the ssstreetsss, it may not all be true.   Do you aim to go and find your Goldeneyed one?