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A Foolhardy Odyssey [DragonSong]

Started by Marakai Trin, June 13, 2017, 02:21:57 PM

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Marakai Trin

"I still don't think this is a good idea, boss. We never took slaves before, and-"

"Shut yer gob, Zamik."

"But-"

"I said, SHUT IT. An' besides, she ain't gonna be a slave. Lookit 'er. She'll prob'ly be nothin' mor'n a decoration. She's froze. Sleep'n, like."

This conversation had gone on for weeks now. From the blasted Thunderblacks, all the way back through the Serha plains, and now...

"Thrice Gods Damned desert...." the leader of the band of bandits muttered under his breath, his booted feet dragging through the sand as they pulled a cart, by hand, up to the crest of a dune.

If only the damned horses hadn't run off, they could have been there by now. The last four days, they'd been pulling the cart by hand. And wheels typically didn't work well in loose sand.

And so, Itachi, one of the most wanted bandits in all of Adela, was heaving right alongside his underlings, trying to get the cart with its pretty 'goods' all the way to Essyrn. Lately now, though, members of his band of Craol seemed to be mysteriously disappearing through the nights...

Well, better than mutiny. More gold for him, too.

"Look. It's almost dark. Per'aps we should call it quits for tonight, eh? It's hot, 'n I know if'n we don't stop soon, I'll be lis'nin to yer bellyach'n till we stop."

Itachi dropped his end of the yolk, and stretched his arms high above his head. He felt as if the kink in his back would never work it's way out. After a moment of snap-crackle-pop, he made his way back over to the side of the cart where, underneath the leather tarpaulin, there was a vaguely female shape. With a quick snap, he pulled the tarp off.

And laying there was this light blue beauty, sleeping without a care in the world. "Ain'tcha a pretty li'l thing, now? Yer gonna make me some pretty coin, methinks," he said, one hand reaching toward her face, the back of his palm gently tracing down her cheek.

DragonSong

Sleep had never been comfortable for her. It was the only time she was truly vulnerable, and even the thought of more than a few hours unconscious made her skin itch, made her dread the time when she would be forced to bed down with her troops and suffer through the oblivion that was never quite as dreamless as she would have liked.

A cursed sleep was hardly any more restful.

Neria was haunted through the centuries, entirely unaware of the world passing by around her but aware that she was unaware, that she was lost in the all-consuming blackness of an almost-waking dream. For she didn't know how long she raged inside her own mind, throwing spell after spell against the nearly imaginary barrier that kept her sealed, feeling as though she was attempting to tear down a mountain with nothing but her hands.

Somewhere along the line, she wasn't really sure when, she began to tire. Then she just...stopped. For the first time in her life, she stopped fighting.

It was worse than the sleep, the hopeless stasis that overwhelmed her mind, her magic, her very soul. Just emptiness and waiting, waiting for some power that would never exist....

So when she felt touch like a firebrand across her cheek, she gasped. Somewhere deep in her mind, locked away, her dream-self snapped its head up and blinked, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

In the physical world, Neria's breath caught and her chest hitched, lashes fluttered almost delicately against her cheek. It was the most she'd moved in some three hundred years, and the magic that kept her sealed flickered and pulsed in a crimson halo around her body, trying to lull her into complacency once more.

Marakai Trin

"Cor Blimey!" Itachi yelled, jumping back. The woman finally moved for the first time in almost a month since his band of Craol found her, and started this foolish trek across the Gods creation.

"You've got ta be shittin' me. I touch her, an' she moves? What th' 'ell did I do that nobody else did, eh?"

He observed the flash of red light that seemed to surround her, and narrowed those green eyes to observe a bit more closely. He reached his hand back out and gently touched her shoulder, wincing on instinct as he expected to be zapped, or caught on fire, or....

Well, nothing happened. The hand on her shoulder grew a bit more bold, making its way back to her face to gently hold her chin,  slowly turning her head this way and that.

Other than her sudden gasp and half a blink, there was no indication she was awake. Itachi raised a brow. "Wha's wit' you, then, eh bird?"

DragonSong

Heat. Warmth in the cold emptiness.

The sudden stimulation, the feelings of touch at all, it was almost too much. Maria started to recoil, almost sinking back into the darkness that had held her for so long.

No.

Her magic pulsed, beating against the edges of her cage like waves against the shore.

No. NO!

The crimson glow flashed again, brighter. The spell keeping her sealed wrapped tighter, and suddenly a voice echoed through the air around the bandits.

The words were ancient and lilting, a tongue unspoken by mortals for nearly a thousand years, but their meaning would thunder through the minds of all who heard them.

"Turn back. You know not what you wake. For your sake and for all, turn back..."

Neria's head snapped back and she keened, spine arching and fingers curling into trembling fists.

Marakai Trin

There's a funny thing about bandits who experience something beyond their ken, something they can't explain away with their uneducated logic. Some of them are superstitious, some just ridiculously cautious,  and some are just plain stupid.

So when Itachi heard multiple footsteps running in random directions, all of them away from him, he wasn't the least bit surprised. Very angry...but...

But, he supposed he should have expected as much out of them.

"Go on, then, ya bloody idiots! Ge' outta 'ere, and don' ya be expectin' any share o' th' money, either!"

He grunted in frustration,  and turned back to the woman laying on the cart. He'd pulled his hand back when she'd jerked again, and the voice in his head gave him a start, but he was still made of sterner stuff than the morons under his employ.

But now how in the hell was he supposed to get creepy girl here all the way to Essyrn? Carry her? Not bloody likely, not through these blasted lands.

"Well, then, if'n yer gonna get up an' smite me 'r whatevee, le's get on widdit..." he mumbled. The girl moved every time he touched her, so if she could wake up, it'd be much easier to get her to their destination.

He'd get her there kicking and screaming if he had to.

"C'mon, then, bird. On yer feet, now..." he reached for her hand, picking it up with one of his and tracing a callused finger down to her wrist.

"Wakey wakey, eggs an' bacy. I ain' got any bacon, mind."

DragonSong

"Turn back!"

"NO!"

Neria jackknifed upright, eyes suddenly blown wide as her magic clashed with the spell sealing her, sending her crimson halo pulsing and a softer, lavender glow lit just over the surface of her skin. "Let. Me. GO!"

The curse screeched as it shattered, the sound ripping through the air and echoing unnaturally.

The fae woman tipped sideways, collapsing onto a bent elbow as she panted, eyes clenched shut. Her lashes fluttered, hair fallen in front of her face.

Heat. Sand. Sunlight. It was so much it hurt.

And she reveled in it. With a deep breath, Neria tilted her head back to let the sunlight stream over her face, lips slightly parted as she tried to regain her breath.

Marakai Trin

Itachi jumped backward, one hand reaching with nearly inhuman speed and dexterity into his tattered longcoat and withdrawing three thin throwing knives, each held between three fingers.

He hadn't expected such an explosion of power, and was actually hoping it would be a bit more lackluster. And do, he readied these knives, preparing to throw them at near point blank range into the woman's skull, if need be.

"Y'know, if'n ya want bacon so bad, I s'pose we could fin' ya somethin'. Ya ain' gotta scream an' explode at me, y'know."

Despite his words, his eyes were narrowed and his lips were drawn thin. "'Bout time ya woke up."

DragonSong

Neria looked at the mortal through a curtain of rather disheveled hair. Her eyes narrowed, glinting and reflecting like a wild creature's.

"You." She pushed herself upright. She wasn't foolish enough to try to stand just yet- she hadn't nearly enough strength- but she made an effort to appear as though she was perfectly content kneeling. "Who are you, human? Where is the one who woke me?"

Marakai Trin

When she finally acknowledged his presence,  Itachi didn't so much as move. His arm remained tensed, more than ready to fling those knives he was so infamous for.

"My name is Itachi, son of none. An' as fer who woke ya, well, I suppose that'd be me. Now, ya have my name. So what's yers?"

DragonSong

He woke her?

This- this human?

"Ridiculous," Neria scoffed, cautiously rising to her feet. Her knees shook, but the length of her kilt thankfully hid it. "You are no faerie. You aren't even a mage."

She frowned and glanced around. "...Where am I? This is...far from where I slept."

Marakai Trin

"Impossible? Dun' doubt me, bird. 'Sides, you see any'un else aroun'? Hmm? An' we're in th' middle o' th' bleedin' desert! There's no 'un else 'round fer miles!"

He huffed and took a step backwards as she stood.

"Moraki desert, that is. Far to the south of basically everythin'. We...er, well, I guess I, brought ya 'ere on tha' cart. Ya scared off all me men when tha' creepy voice sounded, when I started tryin' ta wake ya."

DragonSong

Neria bared her teeth like a wildcat, long canines flashing for a moment. "You brought me? To what end?"

And if she did decided to believe that he was the one who'd woken her... "Why? How did you wake me?"

Marakai Trin

What was he supposed to tell her?  That he was going to sell her into slavery? The thought that occurred to him then was that the truth was likely going to make things ugly...therefore, he decided to ignore her first question for a moment.

"Well, wakin' ya seemed a whole lot easier than draggin' ya through the damned desert, at leas' aft'r every'un else 'cided to tuck their talks 'tween their legs an' run off. An' to tell ya the truth, wakin' ya was sorta an acc'dent. Jus' touched yer face, really, an' dun' get no ideas. I may be an asshole, but I ain' th' kinda guy ta take advantage of a lady when she's sleepin'."

DragonSong

The warrior made a sound that in a less graceful creature might have been called a derisive snort. "Forgive me if I don't take your word," she replied scathingly. "Do you truly expect me to believe a spell enacted by two Seelie generals was undone by a human? With a simple touch?"

She'd noticed his cagey response as to why she'd been brought to the desert, but decided to address it later. Once she'd gotten her strength back, it would be easy enough to cast the human aside and be on her way.

Marakai Trin

"Well, I dunno wha' a 'Seelie' is, an' it was more'n one simple touch. More like three, really." Itachi tilted his head and grinned widely.

He'd see what it took to really fire her up, and see just what he was dealing with.

"I'm guessin' ya just couldn't stay sleepin', what wit' yers truly payin' such speshul 'tention to ya, like."

DragonSong

Neria growled, resisting the urge to simply kill him right then for his insolence. "Mind your tongue, mortal," she spat. "Men have died for less."

There was no hint of a threat or exaggeration in her voice; she was simply stating fact.

She looked around again, squinting against the sun's glare off the sand. "How far is it to the Tuath'an from here?" she asked sharply.

Marakai Trin

"Aye, an' women have, too. You'd best remember who's the one aimin' a few pieces o' death at yer noggin'," he spat right back. He wasn't about to bow down to her - he was notoriously good at what he did, and he was confident it'd be little trouble to knock her off her high horse.

"An' I've no idea wha' a 'Twathin' er wha'ever ya said is, bu' th' closest city is Essyrn, still a ways ta th' south. Tha's where I was supposed ta be takin' ya anyways."

DragonSong

She blinked. "Essyrn?" They were that far south?

Ignoring his threat- because honestly she couldn't imagine him being able to truly harm her- Neria growled in frustration and rubbed at her temples.

"I need to return to Tieor-" No. No, the humans called it something different. "Serendipity." She leveled a cool state at him. "Do you have supplies?"

Marakai Trin

"Seren....Serendipity!?"

This was one of those rare, scary moments where Itachi lost his uneducated facade, and could truly be understood - those times that would typically send his men running for the hills.

"Do you have any blasted idea how godsdamned far away that is from here? On foot? We're in The Moraki desert. To get there, you'd have to go through Serha plains, cross over the Thunderblacks, go through Adela - which isn't gonna fucking happen, that's a damned death sentence for me - and then somehow get to wherever you're wanting to go."

He took a step forward, eyes scathing and his face screwed into a sneer. "And SOMEHOW get there with NOTHING, because we'll be lucky to even get out of the desert to BEGIN with, because NO I DON'T have any fucking supplies, my dumbass, sorry excuses for Craol took everything but you and the fucking cart!"

He stepped away again,  turning his back to her and rubbing his temples. He had no idea why he was screaming at her - he had no intention of being around her longer than Essyrn, even if it meant losing an arm.

"Ya wanna know wha' I have, bird? I got, count'em, one fuckin' waterskin, and no damn food. I dunno 'bout ya, but I'm cuttin' me losses an' headed fer Essyrn. At leas'....there I can resupply an' whatnot."

He turned and levelled a stare at her, head lowered slightly. "Fer once, seems like Zamik was right. This was a bad idea. You an' th' 'orseless cart 'ere can fin' yer own way to Seren-fuckin-dipity. I'm thinkin' yer jus' more trouble than yer worth."

DragonSong

The most reaction Neria gave was slightly widened eyes, pursed lips, and an arched brow for his outburst. Which, truthfully, was a rather intense expression of emotion for her.

"Are you quite through?" she asked coolly when it seemed like he'd finished his rant. Still a little shaky on her feet, she opted to cock a hip and croasnhwr arms imperiously rather than approach him. "Because if that's all, mortal, I think I'll be going."

It was probably too soon for her to attempt to open a portal, but she really didn't give a fuck anymore.

Her tone suddenly shifted- a subtle change, but powerful, magic flowing in her eyes and weighing heavily in the air around her. "I do not foresee that we shall meet again, but if we do- do not even begin to think you may speak to me in such a way. Better men than you have died screaming for such insolence."

The air was suddenly bitingly cold, almost too cold to breath, and heavy. Then Neria turned her back and the pressure released as she started walking. She just had to reach Tieorna through the Faerie Realms. Tiring, but doable.

A sound rather like a smug chuckle rolled through the air and she froze, unsure of it had been external or inside her own head. "Atiana's Wolf has been leashed."

She whirled with a snarl, eyes snapping fire, but the last remnant of her curse had vanished, the smallest scraps of magic dissipating with that final message.

She had a very bad idea of what it meant.

Stars, let me be wrong... Very deliberately, she closed her eyes and tried to cross, to open a portal.

She couldn't even make a connection with the Faerie Realm before pain slammed through her, making her cry out and drop to her knees as a flash of crimson light encircled her body and wove lazily though the air between them to the human, an invisible connection that flared bright for a moment before fading away again.

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