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@Dragonsong !
Glass shards were glittering all around him as he was punched through a window, and the wind, rushing through his dark hair as Clayton "Jack-in-the-Box" Willison found himself suddenly outside the castle, instead of in. Though had he been any other man, he'd be shitting his pants by now, but as luck would have it- he was a mage.
Though despite the symbols of Angsar all over his armor, he hid his power well. But not today. Today it was 'OH MY GOD, USE YOUR FRIGGIN' POWERS OR DIE'.
So he did.
And as the man kept falling, falling, falling towards the ground, he held onto his breath, cursed out the breath, and threw his hands forward and built a pillow of snow, which he promptly landed in seconds later. When he landed, he found himself buried completely... (you know, except for the man shaped hole, which his landing int he snow, had created). And wouldn't you know, it happened to be Summer Time in Connlaoth.
"Shit."
Spitting out the snow, Jack scrambled to his feet, dusting himself off and looking back to the pile of snow that just saved his life, and panicking in ways he could seek to hide it. But did it honestly matter? The castle was under attack, and he hadn't expected to find himself on the opposing fist of a girl. Great, first real duty as a knight during this whole 'war' thing and he was already 'dead'. And he contemplated just sneaking away. He could always go back to a life on the street.. even if the knightly life paid well, it just... really wasn't for him.
So he supposed it was.. exit, stage right time?
Fiona had always wanted an adventure.
This was not what she'd had in mind.
After weeks of pestering her mother to let her handle a few of the deliveries from their shop, she'd finally been allowed to do so- and to go to the castle no less! But of course, before she'd even made it through the gate something had happened. What that something was, she wasn't entirely sure, but some sort of alarm was sounded and people seemed to be panicking.
Truth be told, she was panicking too. Without thinking she ducked close to the wall, searching desperately for a place to hide.
That was when she heard the sound of shattering glass above her head. She leaped backward just in time to avoid a falling body and a sudden, concentrated blizzard. In the middle of summer. What the hell?
She pressed against the wall, eyes wide and mouth dropping open. "Wh-wh-wh-what?"
The fall hurt alot more than he wanted to admit, his heart hammering in his ears as he dashed towards the gate- which of course was the only likely, lousy exit. But the second he did, he began to see guards spilling outside. With a quick "Shit!" Between his teeth, he ducked against the shadowed part of the wall, only to find himself uncomfortably close to some random woman.
"Hey, listen doll, don't get the wrong idea but... Keep your yap shut so we both don't get executed, alright?" Sighing, he peered over the edge, seeing the guards coming their way. "Well shit." And he looked all around quickly before turning to her. "You wouldn't happen to know of a quick exit here? I'll take any I can get, and if you help- hey- maybe we can enjoy drinks together later?"
She stared at the stranger, her brain trying to catch up with the situation fast enough to actually react. "Um, the servants' entrance," she whispered, thinking fast. It was how she'd gotten in, most nobles didn't want mousy little delivery girls coming in through the front gate, and it not nearly as heavily guarded as the main gate.
She jerked her head toward the back entrance and began moving slowly in that direction. "How about," she offered quietly, a smile twitching at her lips, "You can buy me that drink and explain just what the hell is going on here?" Her eyes flicked meaningfully toward the pile of now melting snow and she quirked an eyebrow. Normally she wouldn't have been so bold, but something about the adrenaline of the situation helped push the words out of her mouth.
"Servants entrance," he shook his head. "Why didn't I think of that?"
When she finally moved away so she wouldn't be close enough to smell the sweat and musk of his body- and maybe even the heat, he wasted no time following up behind her.
"Don't get too excited now. We both have to make an exit without, you know, getting executed and all. And right now, I don't think my fellow knights are exactly..." he went on, wincing a bit as he cracked his neck. "On my side anymore."
Fiona eyed him warily. A traitor then? No, she shouldn't jump to conclusions. So far the only thing he was guilty of- as far as she could see- was making it snow in summer. Strange, but then, she was no stranger to strange things.
"What exactly did you do?" she asked, clutching her delivery tight to her chest as she crept up and peered around the corner of the wall before nodding an all-clear. "Must've been pretty bad to get you tossed out a window."
"The window?" he paused to look at her. Then he rubbed his smarting jaw. "Oh yeah.. well that was... Well, I don't think I can be blamed for that one... but maybe you didn't see it but the man standing here with you ought to be dead!" he went on, jogging hastily over towards the servant's entry. Why he was heading back into the castle he wanted to escape from was beyond him- but he just hoped this chick had a good idea up her sleeve cause well- He didn't!
"Yes," she mused, thinking back to the sudden summer blizzard. They were at the servants' entrance now. She slipped through the door, glancing down the hall and listening for approaching footsteps. Clear. Alright, just take the first left and they should be home free.
In theory.
She put that thought from her mind and padded down the hall, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the stranger was following her. "What're you called, by the way?"
"Cl- er- Jack... Or Jack-in-the-Box to those int he ring. YOu know about boxing, right? The street kind," he went on with another clear crack of his neck and roll of his shoulders. "Don't let the armor fool you... this was my first day ont he job and... I don't think I exactly pleased my boss, know what I'm saying?" he went on, following after her. "You got a name?"
Though he wondered why he even cared to ask. Once they were both outta here, they'd likely split ways.
"Fiona," she replied distractedly. He sure did talk a lot... Yes! There was the door, they were almost out. After this, she decided, she would go home to her mother and her shop and never complain about her boring life again. Without thinking she threw the door open-
And was met with a blade at her throat. "Going somewhere?"
Jack's eyes widened at the blade. Suddenly he grabbed the girl and yanked her back, then moved to fling the door closed int he man's face. He turned to her, eyes still wide.
"So.. which way? Cause we should head that way..... like, now."
"I-I don't know," Fiona stammered, partially in shock from what had just happened. "Just run!" She turned on her heel and tore back the way they'd come. Stairs. If she could find a set of stairs, get them to higher ground...
A plan started to form in her mind. A completely mad plan, but a plan nonetheless. She looked back to her companion, judging his size. Maybe this would work. "Up here," she she called, taking the first stairway they came to and hoping it led to somewhere with a window.
He jogged after her, knowing full wellt he guards were right behind them.
"Uh so.. I hate to ask this as we're trying to find an escape but.... isn't running up stairs counter productive?" He laughed. "The entire castle is kind of after my ass so..."
"I guess you'll just have to trust me," Fiona threw over her shoulder. They came out into another hall, one with a large, ornate window taking up most of the outer wall. Perfect. She raced over and fumbled with the latch, then tried to heave the heavy pane of glass open.
"A little help?" she grunted.
Jack hesitated.
"What... wait- you're thinking of escaping that way?"
He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, intending to yank her back.
"Do I need to remind you I tried that once and that's kinda why we're here?"
Geeze- was this woman as dense as bricks!?
Fiona twisted to look at him, frowning slightly. "Look, we don't have a lot of time here, and it's officially your fault I'm in this mess, and I'd rather not be killed for some stranger at the moment. So unless you've got a better idea, help me get this window open and then help me undo the back of my dress, alright?"
Her completely mad plan relied on this man trusting her, at least for the next thirty seconds or so, and hopefully not sharing her secret after that.
And just as he was going on to protest, his words choked inside his throat. An dhe doubled over, coughing.
"Wait.. what!?"
And right behind them he heard the sharp cry, "THERE THEY ARE! SEIZE THEM!"
"Shit!" Fiona cursed, whirling to see the armored men thundering toward them. A sudden burst of terrified strength helped her shove the window wide open. She grabbed for Jack's shoulders, pulling him with her up onto the sill.
"Me or them," she said quickly, flexing muscles in her shoulders she'd never really used before, muscles she prayed wouldn't let her down. "Make a choice, and make it fast."
"What- uh... huh? You or...?" What was she, crazy!? And couldn't he pick himself!?
Alright, they were officially out of time. "I'm really, really sorry, please trust me," she said in a rush, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and snapping her wings open with a sharp crack. She winced as they tore through the fabric of her dress. She'd never done that before.
She looked Jack in the eyes, hoping he could just go with this, praying it would actually work, and somewhere in the back of her mind wondering how it had gotten to this point.
He didn't have time to think or he would have reconsidered the womanly shriek that erupted from his throat. But to find himself clinging to a woman who just sprouted wings? That was equally as humiliating. However, he also didn't want to die, and he clung onto her fervently the second his boots left the ground.
"What the- Are we really!?"
He could have laughed- maybe he did? He looked back to the guards. Yes, he was laughing.
"Gods.. woman just don't.. don't drop me!"
He was fragile! ANd he wans't sure he wanted to make any more summer time snow!
Fiona laughed, bright and high and clear, and with a powerful beat of her wings they were soaring away. The guards' dumbstruck faces would be forever etched into her memory, and the thought made her grin.
Two wing beats and they were over the walls of the castle. One more sent them zipping away to a safer distance. Which was a very good thing because it was at that moment that her body decided to remind her that she'd never actually done this before (not to mention the fact that she was carrying someone else's weight in addition to her own); the underused muscles in her back seized up and they started approaching the ground at an alarmingly fast rate.
"Oh gods," she squeaked, fanning her wings as wide as they would go despite the soreness in an effort to slow down their return to earth.
Though terrified, Jack was captivated by the view. He'd never thought he'd ever fly before (you know, 'falling out of a window' incident aside). There was something terrifyingly awesome about it, though when they suddenly began to drop, he let out another yelp.
"Woah- hey, what's going- hey! Keep flying! We're going to crash!"
"I- I can't!" Fiona panted. "Oh shi- Tuck and roll!" She hopped she'd gotten the warning out fast enough, because a few short moments later her feet struck the ground- much harder than she would have liked- and her knees buckled, breaking her grip on her companion and sending her rolling across the ground.
She lay on her side, wings sore and aching, the wind knocked solidly out of her, for a long moment. When her breath began to return, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, groaning. "Jack? Jack, you alright?"
But he couldn't reply back. His voice had been taken from him- the fall.. having been rough- and hitting him far harder than he would have liked....
Right in the family jewels.
He lay now, quivering under the shade of an oak tree, twigs in his hair, pebbles scraped and embedded into bitten flesh, while he held onto him self in a fetal position. It hurt like hell- Gods it did! He just had to make a rocky landing on his family jewels... ona log!
"Jack?" Fiona repeated, starting to worry when she got no response. She forced herself to her feet, biting back a grunt of pain, and looked around. He seemed to have roll some distance away from her and was huddled into a ball. "Oh no," she muttered, hurrying over. "Are you hurt? Did you break something? Damnit, I'm so sorry, I've never actually flown before, I didn't expect-"
She babbled when she was nervous...
To top off the fact he landed and injured his balls, now he had the woman flailing like a ninny over him, and cawing like a damned crow. He groaned and when he was finally able to gain some voice, he croaked, "Please.. just... stop.... talking..."
"Sorry..." Fiona sat back, clapping her hands over her mouth. It didn't seem like anything was broken, but he was still curled up, clutching his-
Oh.
She winced. That had to hurt...
Jack finally found enough strength to sit up, but he was pulling at his pants some to loosen them.
"Just..." he wheezed, face a bit blue and flushed. "Give... me...." His breathing was rough. "A minute, alright?"
Fiona nodded, but then something caught her attention. Noise from the castle floated toward them on the air; their escape hadn't gotten them very far away, and she could hear the clashes of metal and shouts of conflict from where they crouched.
"Um, I'm not sure we have a minute..." she said nervously.
"I'm.... not exactly... asking," he went on, his breaths becoming less labored but still- the pain had been intense and didn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon.
"Gods..." he blinked back a few tears- since you know, tears were hardly manly! "I'm pretty sure if I ever wanted kids... you just destroyed their future."
And it was only then he began to hear the call of guards echoing through the trees.
"Great... just great. Not only am I rendered useless, but that attempt to escape with our lives seems like it'll end up with us dead anyways." He winced as he still tried to adjust his pants.
"Couldn't you have just let them kill me before you threw me, balls first, into that tree?"
"Hey, I didn't mean to throw you!" she protested. "I've never done that before, how was I supposed to know how to land?"
She wanted to pout, but judging by the volume of the guards it seemed like they didn't quite have the time. "You can use magic, can't you?" she said hurriedly. "You made that snow, right? Can't you just..." She waved her hand in the general direction of his crotch. "Fix it?"
At that...
He just stared at her.
And stared.
And stared.
ANd stared some more.
He coughed out a laugh.
"Are you suggesting I freeze my balls off!? Yeah, cause that's a good idea!" he came back, sarcasm thick in his voice as he pushed himself to his feet. He was a bit wobbly, but even he knew he'd just have to deal with his throbbing balls because well....
The guards were well on their way!
Like an old man, he began to hobble away.
Fiona followed him, not sure where they were going, what they would do when they got there, how they would handle the guards when the caught up (because at the pace they were going that was bound to happen), and-
"Do you have any sort of plan at all?" she asked, voice a little panicky. Why, oh why, had she ever wanted an adventure?
Still hobbling, he gave a croaky laugh.
"Plan? You think this was all planned?" He gave a roll of his shoulders, which cracked lightly from the effort. "Look, even in the ring, I don't have a plan."
As if she even knew about his night time activities as 'Jack-in'the-box'- though he always talked as if people just knew about it, anyway.
"You just run with the punches,a nd fake where you hope the bluff won't get caught."
"Oh, fabulous." She stopped, grabbing his shoulder. Brain whirling, she tried to plan for them both. "Ok, ok... I think I have an idea, follow me." She took off in the direction of the city, saying over her shoulder, "I know a place where we can lay low for a while."
Seeing what direction she was going, he began to drag his feet.
"Woah, woah, woah- listen lady.. do you even know which way you're dragging me?"
He was skeptical of her ability to help, after all. Need he remind her of his bruise?
"Yes, I'm not an idiot," she said sharply, glancing at him. "Look, I know the last time I said this it...didn't exactly end well, but you're just gonna have to trust me."
She figured that wasn't her strongest argument, so she added, "Besides, I don't wanna get caught either- why would I walk right into danger with you?"
Jack made a face.
"I could ask the same question, considering I don't even know why we're out here in this mess together," he went on, sourly. "But lead the way, Wingy."
"Oi, I'm not the one who got his ass punched out a window," Fiona retorted, frowning. They were coming up on the outlying houses now. She started to relax; if she could just get him into the shop, they would be safe.
"What the hell was going on back there, anyway?" she asked quietly.
Jack rubbed his jaw at the comment.
"Just a disagreement." He cracked his jaw, making a face. "A very spritely disagreement," he added with a frown. He kept following her, and close. "So where we goin' anyway? And are you sure it's wise for us to just... run? I mean.. if we can hear those men back there... It won't exactly be long before they see us and are tailing our asses good and close."
"Not if we get out of sight first," Fiona muttered, ducking into an alley between two houses. The shop was just across the street. She glanced around, making sure the coast was clear. "The shop with the green door," she told him, pushing him ahead of her. "Quick!"
If he cared enough to, he'd give her some credit for literally pushing him around! He wasn't exactly a light weight or flimsy man. Jack was all muscle- and with his armor on, he weighed double than normal. However, he wasn't a man to just give out compliments. In fact, he was the first one of any batch to groan.
So he did.
"The green door? You don't think they'll search all buildings for us knowing we're mages?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but officially only Brighid the glass maker lives here, so they won't have a reason to search too hard for anyone else."
Not to mention that Brighid was an upstanding citizen, and should inspire no suspicion with the authorities.
"There's a cellar, if we're quiet enough they should just pass right by."
"Quiet.." he paused, frowning at the noisy-ness of his attire. "Right." And was quick to race towards it. Once they approached, he threw the doors open and peered down into the gloom. He made a face.
"Down into the rabbit hole we go..." he grumbled, before making his way down the wood stairs.
He was greeted by the damp smells and a few loosely hung cobwebs, which he swiped aside with an armored hand. There were jars of all sorts, and supplies for this Brighid fellow to use on his goods. It was also dark- a bit too dark and he stood about, antsy.
"Hurry up, close the door." But then he paused to observe with a pursed lip. "Wait... is that door the only way out?" And he began to wonder if he just found himself in his own tomb!
Fiona quirked an eyebrow. "Technically? Yes." She padded across the familiar floor, wrinkling her nose at the musty odor, and tapped the ceiling in the far left corner. "But mother had this put in for when I need to make a quick dash down here if a customer comes in unexpectedly."
She glanced over her shoulder, glassy eyes easily piercing through the gloom. She tilted her head and whispered, "Maybe you should lose the armor, before the guards actually show up."
"Yeah, maybe," he muttered, fiddling loudly with the armor and making frustrated grunts.
"Easier said than done." And though he was able to get off one leg brace, it clattered to the ground clumsily... and noisily while the man continued with his next brace.
"Shhh!" Fiona hissed, wincing at the noise. Rolling her eyes and grumbling, she crossed to his side. "Here, let me. Just...for the love of gods don't move. Don't even breathe if you can help it." She reached up to fiddle with the clasps at his shoulders, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"Don't move? But you're doing this all wrong and slow!" he protested, moving to work at his arm strap anyway.
"Shut up!" She whisper-yelled, batting his hand away. "Every time you move you clank. Talk me through it then, if I'm doing it wrong." How hard could it be, really? You just unbuckled this part...or maybe this strap was connected to the other thing...
"Oh yeah right, as if I could just give you directions!" he complained. "Besides, women don't know how to work this kinda stuff." Not that he, as a man, did either! It was his first day, after all and well- another fumble had him loosening his breast plate- which fell forward, threatening to crash ontop of her head!
Fiona squeaked and ducked out of the way, grabbing desperately for the sheet of metal as she did. She managed to muffle the clang it made as it hit the floor, but only slightly. She froze at the sound, listening. Hopefully no one was above them yet...
Jack went quiet too- and froze with eyes wide. He too, strained his ears to listen-
So far, so good, or so he thought, for soon the familiar rumble of horse hooves above them could be heard. They were so close, bits of the ceiling began to dust down upon them as Jack held his breath, eyes towards the door.
Fiona held very still, not even daring to breathe as the patrol passed overhead. She didn't even move when the sounds started to fade into the distance, waiting several moments into the silence before breathing, "Do you think they've gone?"
Before he could answer, Jack tensed at the softer approach of footfalls-
Though if they had intended to approach or open the cellar, it hadn't happened and the footfalls went the other way. Releasing his held breath, Jack relaxed some.
"I don't know, but I'm itching to get outta these. Come on, let's get 'em off while we know the coast is somewhat clear."
"And where are you planning to go, exactly?" Fiona asked. She wasn't being entirely sarcastic; she didn't have any good ideas, so her fingers were crossed that this sort-of-knight did.
Jack sighed through his nostrils.
"Probably to a bar."
Fiona chuckled a bit despite herself, going back to attempting to relieve him of his armor. "Genius plan, my friend," she teased. "When in doubt- alcohol. Solid logic. Oh, damnit how is this strap supposed to work?!"
She made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat, resisting the urge to just torch the annoying strip of leather.
"I dunno, I only just got this damn thing today," he said. "Here, let me see what I can-" But as his hand moved to try to loosen it, he used a bit TOO much force and ended up whacking her across the face.
"Ouch!" She sprang back, covering her smarting nose. "Son of a-" Swallowing a few choice words, she glowered at him with watering eyes. "Was that revenge for our oh-so-graceful landing earlier?" She tried to sound carelessly snippy, but damn that hurt!
Jack just sneered a laugh.
"Relax, don't think I'd waste the energy. Besides.." He grunted, removing a shoulder pad. "I didn't really ask for your help."
"Right, right, you had things completely under control," Fiona muttered, blinking tears out of her eyes and moving around behind him to work on the other shoulder pad, hopefully avoiding another errant fist. "That was very evident by your totally-in-control nosedive out of a window."
"Hey! That nose dive was important," he went on, dropping his other shoulder pad. "Saved my life, didn't it?"
She sort of giggled in spite of herself. "Yeah, guess it did." Bending to move the discarded pieces of armor into a pile, she asked, "Do you have any idea what was going on back there? You said something about your fellow knights not exactly being on your side- what did you mean?"
He paused just for a moment to look over at her as he was removing more straps of armor- and he was also wondering just how many straps was there on this thing- really!?
"Let's just say they didn't appreciate what I had to say," he told her, giving her a knowing look that said she'd be best to know, otherwise.
He shrugged off what remained of his armor and gave a roll of his shoulders. The cool air now felt nice against his sweat soaked skin, which made his sleeveless tunic stick to his body like a second skin. So there was no more bulky armor to hide his thick frame of solid muscles, and bruises and scars to match.
He stared down at the pile of armor and knelt beside it, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Wonder how much this could fetch? Bet it'd be a pretty penny..."
Fiona quirked an eyebrow. "Don't waste time do you?" The pithy comment was mostly a cover for the way her eyes wandered over his frame. Being a knight- or whatever he was exactly- she'd assumed he'd be pretty built, but damn... This guy looked like he spent every spare second either punching or getting punched.
She vaguely recalled him saying something about boxing, which would explain that she supposed. Tapping his shoulder, she stood and said, "C'mon, let's get you a change of clothes. You reek."
He blinked and looked up at her.
"Change of clothes?"
He looked down and smelled his arm pit.
"I guess I've had better days. But I ain't exactly a man to want to smell like a daisy."
He stood up, stretching and moved his arms a bit. It was a wonder how anyone walked around in that tin attire.
"And how do you expect us to get me a change of clothes? That's the least of my worries," he told her, giving her a knowing look before sighing nad looking around. His hands went to his hips. "Besides... are clothes just gonna spring up from the ground like some sorta flower?"
At such an idea, he shook his head.
"First thing is first.. we can deal with my smell later, okay?" And he looked the woman over. "So now that we're down here in the dirt dungeon, I say we wait another five minutes then figure out where the hell to go from here. Now I ain't exactly wasteful, well, in some degree I can be, but I'm taking this armor with me. I did get fired today, after all." He told her, giving her a sarcastic smile.
She nodded. "Alright." Then she pointed above their heads. "My plan was to keep you squirreled away down here and go make up some excuse for Brigid as to why I lost a delivery. I could get the cart and we could try to figure out a way to smuggle that-" she pointed to the armor- "and this-" she pointed to him- "to somewhere safe."
Leaning back against the wall she added, "Of course I'm open to better ideas. Preferably ones that won't get my hide whipped by my mother."
He smiled, almost.. it was a partial one, anyway.
"That ain't a bad idea, but why are you using that finger to point at me?"
Fiona quirked an eyebrow. "What, not the one you're used to?" she teased, half smiling. She sobered quickly though, glancing up with a sharp exhale. "Alright. I guess I'll go try to get the cart then. I'll bring it around to the front door..." She bit her lip, thinking. "We're gonna need some kinda signal, I suppose...and I still have no idea where I should be taking you."
She looked at him expectantly, hoping he had something useful.
ANd he just looked at her...
And stared before giving a patronizing scoff.
"So.. the plan is we have no plan?" He looked the woman over. "And what is this idea of carting me to someplace? I'm not exactly going to sit back and let some winged lady think she's in the clear enough to hide my ass. I think you've already forgotten that they're probably after you, too."
He folded his arms across his chest and gave a casual toss of his head to one side.
"Why don't we just wait until night fall and just make a run for it. Or, since I already smell, we could just find a sewer and move to the outskirts that way." And he spoke of such an idea as if it were no big thing. He'd be in the sewers before. They were a terrible place to be-
However, sometimes it was the only way to get to a boxing match, or even host when.
And those matches were the ones that cost many betting men a lot of money.
Fiona wrinkled her nose at the thought. "Um, ew," she muttered. "Look, sewers may work for you, but no thanks. I'm not the wanted mage..."
But- she was. The realization came with a jolt that widened her eyes. True, she wasn't technically a mage, but she doubted the soldiers would stop to figure out the difference, or even care if they did.
She dropped her head into her hands with a soft groan. "Twenty-two years of hiding and I blow it in less than half an hour," she muttered. Oh gods, her mother was going to kill her.
"Twenty two years of what?" he crinkled his nose an moved to have a seat on the wooden steps. Somehow,t he musty wood scent calmed him. Maybe it reminded him of when he was young...
He leaned back on the steps, as if to stretching out on them while he stared up at the ceiling.
"What were you hiding from? Being a mage? That seems to be the big deal around here. You know, they'll call you a mage even if you aren't you."
At that, he gave a half laugh at the statement and shook his head.
He then looked over at her.
"And what were you expecting to happen? It ain't like most Connlaothians can do... well... the flying wing thing, you know? But I think the real big deal is now they might lump us together- Hell, they might even call me a flying knight and say I'm the one with wings. Gods."
He gave a pathetic laugh at that.
"When did Connlaoth get so stupid?"
Fiona shook her head, thumping onto the floor. "I wasn't...I'm not a mage, really, but I'm close enough that Ma figured I'd be treated like one." She drew her finger across her throat meaningfully, then shrugged. "So she hid me away."
She looked up at him with a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry if I started some rumors about you," she attempted to joke, then sighed. "It's not Connlaoth that's stupid, it's the people. And gods sometimes I wish I could just crack their heads together."
Then she tilted her head at him curiously. "What about you then? You talk about hiding like it's a foreign concept, but you must've to have survived this long with powers like yours."
He shrugged and talked about it like it was no big thing. He even laughed.
"The people i normally deal with ain't over protective parents or paranoid religious idiots. In fact, people like me?" He gave a shrug. "We're generally ignored and hell, that's how I like it."
She frowned. "How'd you wind up as a knight then?" She had a hard time imagining someone who was usually ignored ending up in a suit of armor.
She just had to go there! He rolled his eyes.
"It wasn't really by choice, believe you me. But some people are just too persistent and dillusional."
Well, that was obviously a sore topic. She let it drop. "So how exactly are you planning on carting that big metal suit around with you through the...sewers?" she asked, nose wrinkling in distaste at the very idea.
Although, with the way things were going, she might not have much choice but to join him...
"Hey, little girl, " he went on, defensively eyeing her up and thusly realising... He wasn't sure she was any smaller than he. "Aren't you forgetting something? You ARE looking at the guy who just wore that hunk of metal all day. Carrying it will be easy."
Or so he hoped. He was always a man that acted now, thought later.
She arched her eyebrows at "little girl", but didn't comment. "If you say so," she muttered shrugging. Tilting her head to listen, she added thoughtfully, "If you really want to wait down here 'til full dark, we're going to need something to eat. I dunno about you but I'm starving."
He gave her a deadpan look.
"You've got to be kidding me. We're running for our lives but you're worried about your next meal?"
"What?" she said defensively, folding her arms. "I'm hungry! And the pantry is so close I can smell it- I could just run up and grab something." She paused, then added thoughtfully, "Actually, if we're gonna do this whole on-the-run thing, grabbing some supplies might not be the worst idea."
Hands to his hips, his eyes went to the sky.
"Ansgar... If you're real, are you punishing me?"
Fiona huffed petulantly. "Well, what's your plan then, oh Great and Wise One?" she muttered. "Because I'll tell you right now, I am not eating roasted sewer rat."
He gave her a look.
"Plan?" he laughed. "Come on, doll, who really actually plans?" He shook his head.
"Although I'm thinking it might be wiser to put this damn metal puzzle back on.... What? And no, I never mentioned eating the sewer rats. Even a man like me got his limits."
Fiona groaned at the idea of attempting to get all those plates and straps back on him. "Well, while you do that I'm going to grab some food," she said, standing. Hopefully she'd be able to avoid her mother.
The thought made he heart pang. Was she really going to do this? To just run off- would she even see Brigid again?
But then, she didn't seem to have a lot of options.
Jack eyed his armor.
"Well while you're at it, get me a sandwich, why don't you?" He didn't even bother to look at her when voicing his request.
Fiona bit back a growl and stomped toward the stairs, grumbling, "I'm not your maid." She poked her head out of the hidden door to the cellar, listening intently, eyes flicking around as she searched for her mother's figure.
She could hear the snap and crackle of the fire in the workshop. Brigid was probably back there then. She darted out into the hall and to the pantry, loading the deep pockets of her skirt with whatever food she thought might last before skittering back tot he cellar door.
"Fiona? Is that you?"
Shit. She turned with a smile, dropping her hand from the door. "Hey, mum."
And while Fiona was being caught by her mother, the pair might have heard some loud clanking down in the cellar that was not too far away. Jack was still fussing over his armor. Only good thing was, the guards were still no where to be seen.
"How did the delivery go?" Brigid asked with a smile, walking toward her daughter.
Which was when a particularly loud clank echoed up from the cellar. Fiona winced and Brigid's eyes narrowed.
"What in Ansgar's name..." she muttered, reaching for the door.
"No, wait-" Fiona reached out a hand to stop her, resisting the urge to quail under her mother's withering glare.
"Fiona," Brigid grumbled. "What. Is. Down. There?"
She racked her brain desperately for something, anything. Before she could come up with something plausible, Brigid snorted and threw the door open, descending into the cellar.
Fiona was hot on her heels, babbling, "Just wait, please, Mum-"
The second the door was opened, Jack whirled around. On his back he supported a towering heap of his armor- Somehow all of it placed in a precarious pile that he was able to hold. THough his bulging muscles indicated the strain it took to do so.
But the second he saw Fiona behind the elderly woman, he grunted and readjusted his load.
"Hey, if you ain't one of the town guards, you mind helping me out here? I feel like my breast plate is shifting underneath the shin guard."
Though from their angle, all of the pieces would have looked the same!
For a long moment Brigid simply stared at the stranger. Then she turned, very, very slowly, to face her daughter. "Fiona..."
The young woman gulped. "Yes, Mum?"
"Do you mind explaining exactly what's going on here?" Her voice was deceptively calm.
Fiona offered a sheepish smile. "Er...the breast plate is shifting?" She inched toward Jack, eyeing the precarious pile of metal on his back.
Brigid closed her eyes and let out a long breath through her nose. Then:
"WHO THE HELL IS THIS?!"
That was all it took, for seconds later...
All of Jack's armor tumbled, clattering to the ground.
Fiona winced, and Brigid glowered. Bending to busy herself collecting the pieces of metal, the young woman began babbling, "Listen, it's sort of a long story- well I guess not that long- see the thing is Jack and I- well I was- when I went to deliver that order-"
"I don't care," Brigid growled. "I don't want to hear it. Just get him out of my house." Then her eyes lit on the rips in Fiona's dress, the flash of gold wing that could been seen through the torn fabric.
Her eyes widened. Whirling on Jack, she demanded, "What did you see?!"
At such a demand, he nearly dropped his collecting armor again.
"Ansgar's name, lady! Are you kidding me? You see a man with your daughter and you presume I'd tap that? Winged girls ain't exactly my type!"
Surprisingly, perhaps, her daughter's "honor" was the least of Brigid's worries. At the words "winged girls" she blanched.
"No," she whispered, shaking her head.
"Mum, it's alright," Fiona said quickly. "I had to use them, there were guards everywhere and-"
Brigid slapped her. She reeled back, eyes wide with shock. "Foolish child," her mother hissed, eyes wide and panicky. "I knew you weren't ready, I should have kept you hidden-"
Fiona gathered herself, bending to continue collecting the last few pieces of armor. "It doesn't matter now," she said sharply. "The guards saw us. I have to go, Mum." She glanced at Jack, hefting the scraps of metal she held. "What do you want me to do with these?"
He didn't like the idea of the girl being slapped, but it wasn't his place to intervene.
"Now ain't exactly the time to lecture. Besides, the water has moved well past the bridge. The only thing I'm focused on now is getting the hell away from those men. I don't exactly feel like getting hung today."
He turned to the girl.
"Well, getting these discretly into a cart would be nice.."
"Oh, now you want the cart," she muttered. Turning to face her mother, she steeled herself and said evenly, "Please, Mum. We have to get out here, quick and quiet as possible."
For a long, long moment Brigid simply stared. Then, quiet and sharp, she said, "I'll get the cart. Don't move." She disappeared up the stairs.
But the second her mother left, Jack turned, swearing.
"Great, they're comin back!" And dashed towards the front door.
"Wait- what?!" Fiona was right behind him. She could hear then now, faintly. Hardly dating to breathe, she whispered, "Oh gods...what do we do?"
Jack turned to observe his pile of armor, still half on the ground.
He panicked and dashed back to the pile, and began to quickly scoop up the pieces while muttering.
"Help me hide these!"
"Ok. Right." Grabbing as much of the armor as she could carry, she ushered him into a back corner of the cellar, to a sort of closet she often used to hide if any of Brigid's costumers got too curious for comfort. Shoving Jack and the armor into the small space, she followed after and closed the door, hissing, "Stay quiet."
It suddenly struck her that, while the closet was big enough for her to wait in comfortably for hours alone, it was a much tighter fit with two people and a full suit of armor.
Silence lasted for about two seconds when Jack began to grow fidgety. The armor began to clang, and he almost dropped a piece of it, but managed to catch it against Fiona's form.
"Ow," Fiona muttered as quietly as she could. Her eyes could easily pierce the darkness, but she supposed she'd have to give Jack a pass on that one. Shifting slightly to move the piece of metal jabbing her in the ribs, she suddenly found herself pressed uncomfortably close against him, trapped on three sides by his body, the armor, and the closet door.
Jack was uncomfortable as well, and let her know it.
"This armor is getting heavy. Why am I carrying it all?" he quipped, realizing in their shuffle he had infact, taken just about all of it's parts. "It feels like my arm is about to fall off.."
And when he went to shuffle the armor around- a piece of it fell-
Right on his foot!
And his eyes went wide as he sucked in a breath, and was shaking as he held ina scream.
Fiona's eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over his mouth. "Shhh..." She knew it was s pointless admonishment, it wasn't like he wanted them to be caught any more than she did.
She shifted her hip, toeing the piece of armor off his foot. With her free hand she tried to shift some of the smaller bits of metal out of his hands in an effort to prevent a repeat of the incident.
But their attempts were in vain- for the weight was barely shuffled around when the door swung open, a shoulder pad clattering out into the open and a pair of men in armor staring back at the pair of them- with Fiona's mother, wide eyed in terror, just behind them at their heels.
With the sudden loss of support at her back Fiona toppled backwards, landing hard on her rear. Looking upside down at the guards she mouthed a curse and struggled to get to her feet.
"Seems you weren't alone after all," one of the men said, glaring at Brigid.
Before Fiona could even get up, Jack took a long, sturdy step outside of the closet.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... You caught us, you caught us," he went on, giving a roll to his shoulders and placed his hands to his hips.
"I mean, I know the laws state keep these things to a brothel and all that but.. heck, these ladies were pretty lonely and had the right amount of money and..."
If by now the guards didn't understand what Jack was referring to, Jack gestured down to his attire- which was barely anything at this point, under clothes still glued to his form.
And everyone seemed to get very quiet.
Fiona went very, very red. She thought her mother might actually faint. Really? That was the story he was going with?
But then...she didn't exactly have a better idea.
Scrambling to her feet, she sort of shrank behind Jack and stammered out, "Sorry, officers. It's just- well I don't get out much, and, um..." She trailed off, feeling like her face was on fire.
Then, to her utter amazement, Brigid pulled herself together and said bluntly, "My daughter is an invalid, and I worried she may never...experience all life has to offer. She's not getting any younger you see."
Fiona went, if possible, even redder.
Things went from awkward to worse, however, the realism in the awkward moment aided in their belief as the pair of guards awkwardly stood down.
"Er.. We're very sorry for the intrusion... We. We were just looking for some mages..."
And at that, Jack laughed.
"Oh, please the only magic here is in my pants now.. If you don't mind.... I do have paying customers here. We all gotta make a living somehow, right?"
Oh gods. Fiona buried her face in her hands, biting back a groan.
"No harm done," Brigid said briskly. "If that's all then, I'll show you out." She nodded toward the stairs and started to lead the guards away.
Fiona glared at Jack, her back to the others, and mouthed, Really!?
Jack gave her a look.
"What? You going to question the methods on how I just saved our lives?"
She had to give him that, she supposed. Still, her blush refused to die down. "It's a good thing I don't have a reputation for you to ruin," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
She as suddenly having a very hard time ignoring the way his clothes clung to his form.
Shaking herself, she bent to collect the fallen shoulder pad. "What now then?" she asked, trying to avoid his eyes and talk to him at the same time. "Still planning on the sewers?"
"Hell no. The guards won't be coming back, so I'm sticking around your place for a while for a meal and a bath."
Fiona gave him an incredulous look. "You wanna throw a please in there?" she muttered.
It wasn't a bad plan though. Food and a bath sounded awfully good. Shoving her pieces of the armor into his arms she said, "Fine then, you can take of these. Follow me." She marched up the stairs, shouldering the cellar door open at the top.
"Oh, please," he went on with a roll of his eyes. He shuffled about the weight of his armor and followed after her, only then realizing- why the hell was he doing this? He hadn't any idea what to do with the armor for the moment, so the second he saw an empty space, he let the armor drop into a corner.
"So what kind of food you gonna cook me? I'm kinda famished after falling out of windows a dozen times."
Fiona arched an eyebrow at him. "I'm not gonna cook you anything. There's plenty of food in the kitchen, help yourself." She led him into the kitchen and opened a cabinet to gab a biscuit out of a jar.
She turned and yelped, seeing Brigid standing in the doorway. "Those men have gone," her mother said. Her eyes skated over Jack and she frowned. "What are you still doing here?"
"What's this? Come on, doll, you really going to act that way after what happened?" But when Brigid approached, he gave her a forced smile.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm staying for dinner."
Brigid opened her mouth, scowling, but Fiona cut her off. "Why don't you go lay down, Mum? I'll bring you some tea."
When her mother looked between the two of them, she said quietly, "Jack isn't going to tell anyone about me. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I trust him." As she spoke she put a kettle on to boil.
Finally, Brigid nodded, giving the young man one last scowl as she left the room. Fiona let out a sigh, absently handing Jack a plate. "Sit down, I guess I'll make us something then."
"I knew you'd come around. Broads can't help but like cooking for others," he said with a pat to her shoulders as he took a seat.
"You-!"
Fiona scowled, all but throwing some bread and cheese onto his plate. "There, food. And the next time you call me broad, I'll torch you," she said sweetly.
Suddenly not hungry, she told him, "Watch the kettle would you? I'm going to wash off and change." Her dress was ripped and filthy, and her skin was itchy with drying sweat.
"Torch?" he gave a roll of his eyes and a laugh. "Ice mage- remember? I'ts summer and I can make it snow!" He shook his head as she stormed away. "Really.. you think it'd be obvious and she'd know this by now." And he moved to take a sip of his water, and noticed what was on his plate. He turned and yelled after her.
"Hey, you... is this really it? Come on- you call this dinner? I know fleas on rats eat better than this!"
Biting back a growl, Fiona whirled and stomped back to the table. She took a breath and blew a brief jet of flame onto the plate, hot enough to toast the food but not light it- he'd already seen her wings after all, what was the point in hiding this? "There, now it's cooked," she said, turning to flounce away.
She threw back over her shoulder, "And I'd bet those fleas show more gratitude than you."
The flames caught him off guard as he jumped from the table, arms flailing as he began to smack out the fire that had coincidentally caught a hold of his sleeve. A few good slaps and it was out and he stared, breathing hard, down at his toasted bread and cheese. Though alarmed, the smell drew him closer and suddenly he laughed and picked upt he bread, blew out the flame on the cheese and took a bite.
It was crunchy and a bit hot, but through a mouthful he called back to her, "Hey- thanks for the flame. This toasted bread and cheese is great! Though I think I'm going to need more water to wash it down!" And he lifted up his near empty mug.
"The kettle's on for tea, just give it a minute," she shouted back to him, tripping up the stairs to her room. She changed as quickly as she could, splashing her face with water from the washbasin and leaving her ruined dress in a pile in the corner.
She returned to the kitchen quickly enough to find the kettle whistling lightly. She poured steaming water into three mugs and added tea leaves, handing one to Jack with a small smile. Cocky and strange though he may be, he was still someone new and interesting. Now that the threat of the guards no longer hung over them, she found she was becoming more curious.
By the time she was gone, the food was gone, but crumbs remained on his face. He was either too lazy to wipe it off, or hadn't realized it had gotten stuck in his stubble. Either way, he took the offered mug.
"Thanks, doll," he told her with a half grin and lifted the drink to his lips and swallowing- or rather, half swallowing before spitting it out.
"Ahhh, Ansgar's Name! That's hot!" he went on, making a face and shaking his hand. Opening up his mouth, he shoved a blue glowing hand inside it before sighing and saying through his hand, "You're Just lucky I have ice to use right now cause I think you burned the entire roof of my mouth and tongue!"
And he continued to make a sulky face, most of his hand still insie his mouth to cool it off.
Fiona snorted a laugh. She couldn't help it. "It just came out of the kettle, of course it's hot!" she said between chuckles. Setting a mug aside for her mother, she took a swallow of her own tea and hummed contentedly. High temperatures had never particularly bothered her.
Glancing at Jack over the rim of her cup, she giggled again and said, "You've got crumbs on your face, by the way."
He just looked at her, half glaring in a way that oozed the words 'I think I'v got bigger problems.' But he kept his hand inside his mouth before pulling it out with a wince.
"Now my mouth's cold."
She rolled her eyes. "Baby," she accused, though her tone was teasing. She drew a glass of water and handed that to him. "Now maybe take the tea a bit slower, yeah?"
Taking another sip from her own cup, she placed it on the table and said, "If you're done, I could draw you a bath. I have to run up to give Mum her tea anyway."
And well...all that running hadn't been doing him any favors in the body odor department.
"A bath? You kidding me? That sounds like heaven. And here I thought all you were good for was burning some cheese onto bread. Oh, and maybe getting me into trouble by using your wings infront of people who think that's illegal."
She scowled at him. "Oh yeah, and if I hadn't your sorry ass would be in jail by now," she grumbled.
Turning on her heel she gestured for him to follow, grabbing her mother's tea as she headed for the stairs. "I hope you're not expecting royal treatment, by the way. We're just glass blowers, and god knows no one wants to spend money on trinkets nowadays."
"Glass blowers?" he gave a scratch to his back and rub to his nose as he followed her. "Guess that makes sense... but hell, don't you think you're cheating hte customer? You know, being able to use your fire breath and all..."
Fiona arched an eyebrow at him, knocking gently on her mother's door and leaving the tea just outside it when she didn't answer. "How so? People get better product for the same price." She shrugged. "I'm good at what I do, being able to hold the glass while I mold it doesn't mean we hike the price up or anything."
He shook his head.
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." He put his drink down and looked at her, sighing out a laugh.
"I meant you should be charging much cheaper... considering, you know.." he gestured to her iwth a free hand."You don't have to pay for fuel, ya know?" And he looked up into her eyes, brows raised-
and he still had that crumb on his face.
"Oh." She'd never actually thought of that before. But she shrugged again. "Well, Mum does things the old fashioned way, but you're right I suppose. You'd have to take that up with my mother though, she's the one running the show."
She leaned against the door at the end of the wall and set about beating water to fill the tub. "In case her pissiness didn't clue you in, people aren't supposed to know I even exist."
Jack raised a brow at her and looked her over.
"Well, its a little obvious you do exist. IT's not like you have the power to actually hide yourself." And he paused to think of that idea.
"Although that'd be cool..." he went on, rubbing his chin- but the crumb in his remained, barely disturbed.
Fiona bit her lip. "Look...today was the first time I've been out of this house since- well, since ever, really. I know it may seem stupid and crazy to you, but this is how Mum has kept us going. Now that people saw me..." She trailed off and looked away.
What would happen?
She shook herself and finished filling the tub. "I'll leave you alone. We may have some extra clothes lying around, I'll go check."
Jack made a face.
"What?"
It certainly sounded crazy to him! He turned to her and made a face.
"She kept you here as like.. what? A prisoner?" Curiosity perked, he moved to follow her, sipping his tea.
She stopped in the doorway, turning to face him and protesting, "No, of course not! She's my mother, she just wants to protect me..."
She folded her arms over her chest and looked away. Because that was the exact argument she'd made to Brigid time and again, that she wasn't a prisoner to be kept locked up, some animal she could shut away.
"Protect?" he laughed and looked her over, then turned away, hand on his hip as he sipped at his tea.
"I'm a mage and you don't see me just hiding away or keeping back like some animal."
Then again, he wasn't entirely stupid, either. Though he was... well, careless (sometimes!)
Fiona opened her mouth to argue but found she couldn't think of a good response. His attitude still irked her a bit though- and more than that made her wonder what she could have done if she'd just been a little bolder with her own life- so she turned on her heel and muttered, "Wash off, you stink."
"Tch.." He just stood there and shook his head. "After my tea..." Then he paused and swore.
"Hey.. my tea's gone cold.. Can you warm it back up for me?"
Sighing, Fiona took the cup and blew gently. A soft gold flame spun from her lips to set the liquid steaming and she handed it back. "It may be too hot now, don't burn yourself again," she told him with an arched brow.
"Too hot? I thought I said to warm it up, not turn it into lava."
"I can't exactly control the temperature of my fire beyond hot, hotter, and dear gods it's an inferno," she told him, a little irritated.
"Pfft.. then what kinda mage are you? Maybe that's why you're mother kept you holed up here. An untrained mage who can't even control their powers as they see fit is kinda the reason all of Connlaoth hates are lot."
She slapped him.
Immediately she drew her hand back to cover her mouth, unable to believe what she'd just done. She was just so sick of him talking down to her like that, she'd- snapped.
"Sorry," she said quickly, backing up. "Sorry, I..." She let out a breath. Not knowing what else to say, she muttered, "I'm not a mage." She turned on her heel and made to leave.
And Jack just stared-
and stared and stared as he felt the seering sting linger on his cheek. He grimaced, nursing his cheek as he peered after her disappearing form.
"What? What do you mean not a mage?"
He shook his head and regarded his tea.
"Not a mage... Just because she's bad at it don't mean she ain't one."
He gave a shrug and knocked back some of his tea- but seconds later- he was sputtering the scalding waters out with a cry.
Fiona stopped with a sigh. "I did warn you," she threw back over her shoulder when she heard him sputter. "And if you keep stalling your bath is gonna go cold."
Jack had his hand once again inside his mouth to cool it and made a face at her reply.
"Well you could always warm it back up! Except I think you'd try to burn my skin off!"
And with a grumble, he made his way to where the bath was drawn, took one look at it- and the meager offer of modesty in the room, and simply shrugged off his clothing and stepped inside the bath with a loud and rowdy splash.
And once he was situated inside it, he called towards the hall.
"Hey.. where's the soap?"
Gritting her teeth, Fiona returned to the bathroom, not really thinking it through. "If you would just look," she grumbled, grabbing the bar of soap from the little shelf by the door and turning to give it to him.
Then she squeaked, realizing he was actually in the bath- and undressed- and whirled around again. She tossed the soap over her shoulder, not bothering to find out if he caught it before she basically fled the room. "Sorry!"
The soap clumsily bounced off his head as he yelped, "Hey!"
He rubbed where the soap hit him- of course it had to be near his eye, and he rubbed at it more and scowled.
"What good does the soap do for me now that it's somewhere on the ground!?" he called after her and sighed, wondering if he'd have to get out of the nice warm waters to retrieve it..
Where ever it may be.
Fiona groaned and- yet again- turned around. Holding one hand at eye level to block her view of him, she knelt and felt around with her free hand for the soap. It slipped away from her a couple times but she finally managed to get a grip on it and she held it up in the direction she thought Jack was.
"Here," she muttered, blushing furiously.
Jack watched her, half amused, but also half annoyed.
He gave a snap of his fingers.
"Hey doll, I'm over here." And he gave an indicative splash of the water.
She adjusted her arm, accidentally bumping what she dearly hoped was his shoulder and not his face in the process. "Sorry," she muttered again, moving to stand.
But Jack's splashing had created a small puddle around the tub, and her feet slipped out from under her. She fell back with a soft cry, ending up for the second time that day with her back on the floor. "Ow!"
She did hit him in the head and he was about to say something smart when he watched her become air born. The hard landing on the floor even made him flinch and he casually leaned over the edge of the tub and said, "Why don't you look where you're going?" And then he pointed to her now empty hand. "And you lost the soap while you were dancing around. Next time, leave the pirouettes to the swans."
She glowered at him. "You know what? You can get your own damn soap," she grumbled. Folding her arms, she added, "And I am perfectly content here, thank you very much."
She wasn't. Her back and rear were throbbing and she'd hit her head pretty hard. But she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of watching her wince as she tried to get back up.
Jack looked down at her kind of funny.
"What? You want me to get my own soap so I end up looking like you? All sprawled out like a starfish on the floor?"
Groaning, she sat up a bit and once again grabbed for the soap. She actually looked at him as she held it out this time, her shyness completely dissolved into irritation. "You're infuriating, did you know that?" she said, adding hing one eyebrow at him.
"Thanks," was his only reply as he snatched the soap from her, and did so none too cleanly as water from his hand would splash all over her. "Would have kind of been pointless to just soak without the soap, you know," he went on, stuffing the soap into his left armpit and gave it a scrub.
Fiona spluttered, wiping water out of her eyes. Hold the edge of the tub, she got carefully to her feet. "Right, well at least you would have smelled better-"
"What is happening in here?"
Brigid's voice made her whirl around- and once again slip on the wet floor, crashing to the ground with an "Oouf!"
"Oh come on!" Jack went on, turning away with a shake of his head, but Brigid's presence didn't stop him from continuing to soap up his other arm. "Is this room reserved for the three ring circus? A guy can't ever catch a break around you dames."
"Mum, I wanted to talk to you," Fiona said quickly, face red as she scrambled to her feet. "You just- don't talk." She pointed a stern finger at Jack as she grabbed her mother's arm and towed her out of the room.
Jack just blinked and watched the pair go, before shaking his head and going back to scrubbing his other arm pit now, back towards where the pair had disappeared.
"I don't know what has gotten into you-"
"Look, you're misunderstanding-"
"You've been seen, Fiona!"
"We'll figure something out-"
And on it went. Finally, Brigid seemed to grow weary of shouting and simply pointed to the door to Fiona's room. She went quietly, unwilling to argue her point any further. Maybe after her mother had calmed down.
Brigid knocked sharply on the bathroom door. "When you've finished, dress and get out here. WE have things to discuss."
"Out of here? And just where do you propose I go?" he asked, having then since completed his washing and was now standing beside the bath and drying off his behind. "And I still need a means to transport that armor..."
"I don't care where you go," Brigid snapped. "And I'll give you the cart. I just need to know you won't tell anyone what you saw today."
Fiona listened to the conversation, back to her door. Her heart sank. If he left, the most interesting thing in her life would be over. She'd go back to just being the glass girl.
"What? Why would I tell anyone? You think I'd need the guards breathing down my neck about a girl who sprouts wings and breaths fire onto tea? Forget about it! I only look after one person's back and that's mine!" he called after Brigid while he continued to take his sweet old time toweling off. And it was only when he returned the towel to his hair tha the paused to realize....
"Shit."
His clothes had gotten all wet.
Picking them up, he rolled his eyes as they dribbled water onto the ground. He moved towards the door, pausing only when he realized he was naked and quickly tied the towel around his waste. Then he opened the door and swung around his wet clothing.
"Oh, lady, your locked up daughter got my clothes all wet. You got some place I can hang 'em to dry? Or are you that crotchety that you'd kick me out wearing just one of your old towels?"
Her mother bristled and Fiona cursed under her breath, grueling the door open and darting into the hall. "Here, I'll take them," she said quickly, ravhimg out for the clothes.
Her eyes darted to her room and she mouthed I need to talk to you. Aloud she said, "Just let him stay until his clothes dry, Mum."
Brigid takes but nodded reluctantly. "Not a moment longer," she growled. "And keep the door open."
"Door open? But it's drafty in here. You don't by chance have another towel or somethin', do ya?"
Fiona grabbed his arm and towed him into her room, shoving him onto the bed and throwing a spare blanket over him. "Gods, do you ever know when to just shut your mouth?" she grumbled, though privately she found she was becoming almost fondly exasperated by his chronic inability to shut up.
Lucky for her bed, Jack was mostly dry, except for the dampness of his hair, which was a half plastered mess about his head. He caught the blanket and gave a mean smirk.
"Shut my mouth? Never. I'm not one of those people who just keeps quiet to keep quiet. If it needs said, then say it," he went on, then looked down at her bed, then at the frilly, pink blanket she tossed at him to use to 'clothe himself' before he looked over at her.
"Look, babe, I know you think seeing me in the bath was probably kinky, but you're probably too young for me to even consider. I mean you still live at home with your mom..." he went on to make his point. "I probably have more scars than you have years on your life."
Wrong or not, he did have a lot of scars all over his body- which were so easily on display, along with the well toned muscles all over his body.
Fiona scoffed at him, folding her arms over her chest. "Listen, babe, this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not interested. Really." She arched an eyebrow and added, "I'm twenty-two, by the way."
Glancing at the door, waited until her mother had retreated into her own room before she sat on the other end of the bed. "I wanted to talk to you about something else."
He gave her a funny look.
"Twenty two and you still let your mom hold you hostage?" he asked, not seeming to comprehend her 'want to talk' about something else.
She flushed lightly. "She's not holding me hostage. It's to protect me- if people found out what I was..."
She trailed off. She didn't really know what would happen.
"Find out what? That you can grow wings and blow fire? Big deal. You know I'm a mage and is my head in a noose? No. The problem is, you guys worry too much."
"But that's what I keep telling you, I'm not a mage. I'm-" She bit her lip. "I guess I don't really know what I am, if there's a name for it or anything." She gave him a wary look. Oh well, he knew everything else. "My father was a dragon," she said bluntly.
"Yeah, and my mother was the Queen of Serendipity. Look, mages are mages. We fling magic around because we were just born that way. Just because COnnlaothian society views us as barbaric and evil doesn't mean it's true you know. In fact, for all we know Ansgar never happened and what he supposedly preached was a lie. Then again, most religions seem to be pieced together off of a lot of mythical mumbo jumbo. Besides..." He gave a shrug. "If anyone bothers you about it you can just burn their ass."
She giggled a bit and rolled her eyes. "Not all problems can be solved with fire you know," she muttered.
He didn't believe her. Oh, well, what had she expected? Still, it didn't matter, not for the moment at least.
Sobering, she leaned a little closer and lowered her voice. "Listen, half-dragon, mage, whatever- we're in the same boat, right?" She glanced toward her mother's door and sighed. "I don't want to be stuck here forever. So I was thinking...when you leave, can I come with you?"
She didn't know or care what his plan may be. At this point, she just wanted out.
At that, he just looked at her and laughed.
"Out?" He shook his head. "What? I thought you didn't feel like a prisoner here. And what.. why follow me? Why bring me into this? You really think following around a guy like me is even a smart idea?"
She barely knew him! The girl must've been desperate!
"I know you can fight," she replied quickly. "And crazy as you may seem to me, you've gotten this far as a mage with your skin still intact, so you must be doing something right. Just teach me, show me how to make it on my own and I'll leave you alone, I swear."
She bit her lip and added, a tad desperately, "I could pay you." She didn't exactly have a lot of coin, but hopefully it would be enough.
He cracked another laugh.
"Teach you? You have no idea what you're even asking. And payment? Please. I doubt you'd have the money to support yourself!"
She glowered. "I could learn! And I can earn my own coin, I have some skills other than blowing glass you know." Not entirely a lie.
"What, you mean like flying?"
She flushed. "Well...yes, but I can do other things too! I can cook, a little... And I have good hands, I'm a fast learner!"
Jack wrinkled his nose.
"Talk is cheap. Besides, wouldn't your mom have a piss fit?"
Well, she would, but... "I don't care," she said determinedly. "Please, I can't live my whole life in this house."
She'd come back. Someday. She just needed to live first.
"Gods above..." he shook his head. "You really want to go that badly? Then help me pack up so we can get on the road."
"But if you just-!"
Fiona snapped her mouth closed, eyes wide. "Wait, really? You- you'll take me along?" A grin spread across her face and she sprang to he feet. "Oh thank you, thank you!" Without thinking she threw her arms around his neck in her exuberance.
A moment later she realized what she was doing and leaped back. She didn't have the mind space to be embarrassed though, so she just beamed and asked, "Alright, what do you need?"
The second her arms locked around him he grimaced, all the muscles of his body tensing. Then when she finally let go, he turned his cringe towards her.
"Rule number one... No hugging, got it?" he rolled his shoulders, as if thatd remove the awkward feeling hugs always elicited. He also cracked his neck.
"You know that's a big sign of weakness, right?"
She tilted her head, brow furrowed. "Okay, no hugging. Sorry." But- a sign of weakness? "Why? I mean, I get it if you don't like it personally, but why's it such a big sign of weakness?"
"Oh, please," came his reply through an eyeroll and dry laugh. "You haven't stepped an inch out of this home and you're already questioning me?"
Fiona frowned at him, but backed off, raising her hands peaceably. She didn't want to risk him changing his mind. "Alright, alright... So what do we do then, what do we need to leave?" She arched an eyebrow. "If you would deign to answer the question."
"First things first, and that's ensuring we can leave. And secondly? " And that's when he looked her over, scrutinizing. "You have to also realize that out there on the streets? There are no rules."
She shrugged. "First part's easy enough. I'll make a show of seeing you out, then sneak out through the cellar, if you'll wait for me at the door." Then she frowned. "I...think I get the concept."
Jack frowned.
"You make it sound so easy. But fine, I'm itching to get back on the road anyway!"
She nodded, then grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the door. "Well then, I'll see you off," she said, loud enough for Brigid to hear. Loading her voice, she nudged Jack toward the stairs and murmured, "Give me ten minutes, I'll meet you at the cellar door."
Before she could go, however, he caught her arm.
"Oh, before I forget, you should get us some food for our travels."
She nodded. "Yes, alright. Just go, quick, before Mother comes out." Her eyes flicked anxiously toward Brigid's door.
He gave her a scrutinizing look before letting her go and making his way nonchalantly towards his discarded armor, and eventually towards the cellar. But of course a pair of guards just had to be passing by, so Jack moved quick to hide behind a stack of lumber.
She breathed a small sigh of relief when he started to move, darting back into her room to grab what she thought she might need- some extra clothes seemed like a good idea- and a small pack to put it in. Back in the hall, she hesitated outside Brigid's door.
With a small sigh, she heated her fingernail with a breath and scratched a few words onto her own door: I have to go. I love you. Any other argument she could have made had already been said. Steeling herself, she went downstairs.
True to her word, Fiona grabbed as much food from the pantry as she could stuff relatively inconspicuously into various nooks and crannies of her dress. Satisfied, she moved into the cellar and crept to the door, opening it just a crack to peer out.
Guards. Of course. Damnit.
As Jack listened in, he thought he over heard the men talking about him, and who he was. though in his attempts to get closer to the wood pile to listen better, he must've been leaning in with too much force since the top of the pile shifted, making enough noise for the guards to cry out,
"What was that?"
Shit. Something had caught their attention.
Probably Jack, she thought with a mental sigh. Cracking the door open a bit further, she looked around for some sort of distraction. The best she could come up with quickly under pressure was to snatch a small stone from the cellar floor and toss it at a house across the street.
She underestimated her own strength, and the small rock smashed loudly through the window. She winced. Well, at least it was a distraction.
It caught their attention alright, especially since the woman of the house came out on an angered gale. Jack couldn't believe his luck, and while the guards went to investigate it- pawning it off as some 'bird', he didn't wait around for the woman to point out it was a rock, or whatever it actually had been. That's when he turned around and saw Fiona.
"Ohh.. I should have known it was you who broke the window. Causing trouble already and we haven't even left your house!"
She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him but couldn't help grinning a little proudly. "Well it worked, didn't it? Come on, let's get out of here."
She waved her hand at him in a lead the way kind of gesture.
Jack made a face.
"You sure we got all the supplies?" he looked around. "Woah wait.. what about my armor? Can't leave that money pile just to rust away in a heap here."
"I grabbed enough food for a few days, at least," she said, voice quick and quiet. She cursed under her breath when he mentioned the armor. "The cart is around back," she said, nodding at the house. "Come on, I'll show you."
Then she supposed one of them would just have to sneak back in to collect the armor.
Despite there being city guards near by, Jack followed her lead without any attempts to be evasive. Infact, he was talking rather loudly as they turned towards the back.
"I see the cart. Guess I'll have to pull it, being as you appear as if you'd only let the cart squash you and I'm not a fan of horses, not that I'd think you'd have an extra horse to spare."
He moved to the cart and with a creak from the wagon and a grunt from him, he turned to the girl.
"Where should I take this to,load the armor?" And the volume of his voice seemed to be loud the whole time, or maybe the environment was just that quiet?"
"Shhh," Fiona hissed at him when she couldn't keep quiet anymore, glowering. "Just bring it around to the cellar door, I'll go in and grab the armor and we can go." If she wrapped it in blankets or something it wouldn't clank as much, and it might hide what they were carrying.
He arched a brow.
"You carry it? Are you sure you can even carry half? Its made out of pretty top quality metal. In fact... The armor might weigh more than you."
She arched an eyebrow. "I'm stronger than I look. I carried you, didn't I?" Then she shrugged. "But if you don't trust me, you can help with it."
"Well you had wings at the time. Does it look like I have wings? Of course not! And that's because I don't need 'em! But if you want to give it a try I can stay out here and try to pick this piece of gristle from my tooth. It's been bothering." And he went on to do just that.
With a roll of her eyes heavenward and a muttered prayer- something along the lines of "give me the strength not to kill him"- Fiona ducked back into the cellar.
It was actually fairly easy to find blankets to wrap the armor in. But it did make the pieces more bulky. She somehow managed to stack a majority of it in her arms and teeter her way back to the door. Stumbling out onto the street, she muttered, "There's some left," dumping her cargo into the cart with a relieved exhale.
Jack frowned.
"Some left? Geeze, How many trips do you plan to take?"
She frowned at him. "One. Just try not to draw attention to us, okay?" She turned to go back into the cellar, gathering up the last of the armor with a grunt before making her way back out.
"Okay, let's get out of here. Fast," she panted. The last thing she wanted was her mother waking up before there was some distance between her and this house.
Jack was standing there, looking sulky as he picked at his ear. When she returned, he looked at her and then the armor.
"Sounds good to me."
Grabbing onto the cart's front shafts, he didn't think twice before strong manning the cart along, muscles bulging at the weight. Though it seemed a bit uncomfortable for him to do so, he said no complaint, and pulled the cart along on the rocky stone street.
"I'm not exactly a fan of sticking to one place for too long, if you know what I mean. But I do know a few places we can go. Though.." he turned to her, looking her over without much of a muse. "You know nows your chance to rethink this. Where I live? IT's not exactly a place for some angel girl with wings."
She gave him a dry look. "I'm hardly an angel. And I can handle myself." She hoped.
Straightening her shoulder in the hopes that it would make her seem more confident, she sidled closer and tried to take one of the cart shaft. "Here, let me help."
Jack nearly dropped the thing when she came close.
"What the heck- hey, woah, woah, woah, Angel Claws, what do you think you're doing? This thing's heavy." He paused to look at her, growling and shifting the weight. "Leave it to a man. It's a man's work."
And shaking his head, he turned from her, rolling his shoulders before carrying the cart onward.
"Besides, you should just be observing. You wanted to learn something out here, didn't ya? Can't learn if you just try to dive into things."
She arched an eyebrow. Man's work? Biting back any sarcastic comment that phrase inspired in her- she didn't want to irritate him too badly, there was always the chance he'd just dump her along the side of the rode somewhere- Fiona backed off with her hands raised.
"Ah, yes. Observing. Because there is a great art involved in pulling a cart."
Okay. So maybe she would be a little sarcastic.
"Work, not art," he retorted, and continued on with his manly duty of dragging along the cart- and surprisingly did so in relative silence.
A little taken aback by the fact that he wasn't lecturing her about one thing or another, Fiona cast a sideways glance at him as they walked. "Sooo...where exactly are you planning on taking all this?" she asked after a moment, waving her hand at the laden cart.
"A metal smith," he went on with a grunt. He felt his arms burning with the effort to keep the cart being pulled for this long, though he wouldn't complain just yet- they had barely been on the road for twenty minutes now.
"Or some smith or trader that'll take it, but most of the time smith's will buy this type of stuff. I know an old man the next town over, though not sure it would be wise to travel that far with this stuff."
Fiona bit her lip, watching him. "Will you please let me take a turn?" she asked, half exasperated and half concerned. "Or at least let me help? I really am stronger than I look."
The last thing they needed was him collapsing from exhaustion or something.
Jack paused a moment only long enough to laugh.
"Please.. the last thing I need is for the cart to smash you. Look, if you're so concerned why don't you get me some water or something? Carrying this thing is making me sweat and getting my mouth all dry." He just gave her alook. "It's the least you can do."
"Alright, alright." Glad she'd thought to fill up a flask before leaving the house, she retrieved it from a belt at her hip and passed it over. "Here."
And nonchalantly he ordered, "Look, just pour it near my mouth so I can drink it. I don't really want to waste anymore time in this village. People are after us, remember?"
"Ahh...okay?" She moved a bit closer, trying to figure out how to position herself in order to do this without spilling water everywhere.
She unscrewed the cap of the flask and gave it a go, twisting her upper body as they walked for a better angle.
Jack was about to indulge in the much needed water, but something caught his eyes that made him slip and instead, bump into her arm that was holding the water as it spilled everywhere. He dropped the cart and grabbed onto Jynx and pulled her protectively against his smelly, sweaty side. Muscles tensed, he glared at the man walking along the road towards them. And this stranger's grin was, if anything, devilish.
"What the hell are you doing here, Dayne? I thought you were leavin' for sunnier skies."
The man laughed and looked from Jack to the girl, then back to Jack again.
"How could I leave? You know you'd miss me and since you left.." the man went on, still smiling that dangerous, edgy smile. "Someone had to jump in to take advantage of all of those opportunities. But hey.. I thought you were a knight now, or something?" The man picked at his ear, motioning as if cleaning it out to hear better. He cocked his head curiously to one side. "But what's this? Did you really get hired to be a human donkey instead?"
Fiona gave a squeak of surprise and protest when he grabbed her, but shut up quickly at the new voice. She craned her head around to try to get a look at this person- Dayne, Jack had called him- muttering quietly, "What's going on?"
Jack just shot her a look, then returned his attention to his 'friend.'
"You could say that's my new job for now," Jack replied lamely. "But being a knight wasn't for me."
"So you.. quit?" the man asked, amused.
Jack bristled, irritated.
"Yeah, I quit," he spat back. Dayne's smile broadened.
"So I guess I'll see you back at The Underground?" he turned to the girl. "Are does your mule owner have you whipped?"
Jack gave the man a soured, unamused narrowed look.
"The girl is just here temporarily. A jobs a job, and the hell if i'd leave the Underground to you. THat'd be like letting a child run a whore house."
Dayne laughed nad pretended to be heart broken. "You wound me. But hey.. if this woman is just temporary..." And here he moved in close to get a good look at Fiona, getting right in her face before looking up at Jack. "Is she available for some fun, later?"
She most certainly is not! The words were on the tip of her tongue, but this stranger was looking her over with something dangerous she wasn't used to seeing in his eyes and her voice died in her throat.
She shrank back against Jack, a completely instinctive move, and looked between him and this Dayne person. Underground? What were they talking about? And why was he so damn close?!
Jack sighed, grabbed the cart and muttered, "No." He shoved past Dayne and continued to pull the cart on the road and as Dayne stepped back to get out of the way from being rolled over, he smirked.
"Why don't we make that our next bet at the Underground? Or at least let me ask your girl myself!" Dayne shouted after them.
Jack kept his eyes forward, not seeing too bothered he had Fiona more or less hugged at his side. He still managed to pull the cart and keep her close somehow, though she probably wasn't getting the best manly musk smell from him, and the sweat from his back soaked into her clothes.
"Just keep walking and ignore him," Jack muttered. "He's annoying and not someone I want to deal with right now."
Fiona nodded quickly. Her rather sudden onset of fear was subsiding a bit and she was growing more aware of the rather...unsavory smell now wafting around her. Still, she preferred it to those eyes looking her up and down like she was some prize hen he was thinking of buying.
"Who is he?" she asked quietly. "And what's this Underground thing you two were talking about?"
Jack sighed.
"If I were you I wouldn't worry about either."
She frowned. "Does it have something to do with the street boxing you were talking about before?" she guessed, unwilling to let it drop. She was curious by nature, she couldn't help herself.
His eyes went to hers as he nearly let the cart slip. He readjusted the weight and continued to pull.
"You're smarter than you look," was all he said.
She arched an eyebrow, inordinately pleased. "So I'm right. What was the talk about betting then? Why'd he mention me?" She looked up at him as thought trying to read the answer in his face.
Jack gave her a look.
"You think people just box for fun? No, we beat each other's faces in with our fists for money. And if we win...?" he paused to look at her, nearly forgetting they were super close. "Let's just say we get a lot of money."
And he continued to pull the cart onward.
"Oh." Her voice got smaller as she realized how close they still were. Clearing her throat and glancing away, she muttered, "Well that sounds...fun."
She still didn't quite understand how she came into play in that scenario, but she didn't exactly want to dwell on it either. "Look, should I, um- I mean, it can't be easy to walk with me pressed all up against you like this." She moved to duck out from under his arm.
He paused as he watched her leave.
"What? Tired of walking already?"
"No, I'm fine." She wrinkled her nose at him. "But I'm sweating enough without you all pressed close, thank you very much."
And honestly it was making her a bit jumpy. She was not used to being around men, had never really had the opportunity, and she wasn't quite sure how to act.
"Well it's not like I sweat roses," came his retort. "Besides, you think you could pull this cart without breaking a sweat?" he challenged.
"I never said that," she snipped. "But I'd be happy to take over for a while if the men's work is proving too strenuous for you." She batted her eyes and smiled innocently.
And at that, he suddenly let the cart drop from his grip.
"I don't know about having you do any heavy lifting, but I gotta piss. Stay here." And he moved towards a nearby line of trees on the outskirts of the town.
Fiona watched him go. "Stay here," she repeated, sulking. "Oh sure, just leave the girl with the cart." She eyed the thing warily, then suddenly decided, "I'll show him." She took up the place he had vacated and lifted the cart.
It was heavier than she'd expected, but she thought she could manage. Experimentally, she took a few steps, glancing almost guiltily in the direction Jack had gone.
Jack was none the wiser, back to her and whizzing on a tree.
Feeling a bit more confident, Fiona started walking. Not too fast- she was trying to prove a point, not leave Jack behind.
"This isn't so bad," she said to herself. "Okay. I can do this. One thing at a time. I can pull a cart, I can learn how to do something besides blowing glass. Yeah, I can do this."
She probably looked like a crazy person, lugging a cart of blankets that gave muffled clanks every so often and muttering to herself.
And as Jack finished what he was doing, he turned around, pants half buttoned, and just stared as the girl began to pull along the cart.
Fiona kept walking and talking, her tone growing a little more lighthearted as she spoke. Her anxiety started to fade a bit, replaced by a simmering excitement.
Somehow, the simple act of pulling the cart by herself made this whole thing hit home. This was real. She was really leaving. She paused for a moment, staring into space as she let that sink in.
And Jack only followed, arms folded as he simply watched. He figured not to say a word, just let the girl try, whatever it was she was trying, out.
Shaking her head and laughing at herself quietly, she set off again. Letting her mind wander, she glanced back where she'd last seen Jack, wondering what was taking him so long.
He was gone. She stopped, looking around and trying to ignore the panic building in her chest. "Um...Jack?"
Jack stepped up beside her, on the opposite side she was looking.
"Yeah?"
"Gods above!" She yelped and spun to face him, her expression of shock changing to a scowl. "Where did you go? And why did you feel the need to give me a heart attack?"
"What are you talking about? I was right behind you the whole time. Besides, it looks like you had things under control. What..?" he noticed the look on her face. "You don't expect me to hand hold you the whole way, do you?"
She scowled. "No, of course not." She had been irrationally afraid he'd left her on her own though.
She shook her head, muttering quietly to herself, "Should've known better. I've got the cart with goods, why would he leave." She set off again, refusing to look at him.
"See? I knew you were smart. That's one reason I agreed. Besides," he went on, casually walking beside her and the cart. "I do owe you one."
"Well, whatever your reasons, I owe you thanks," she said, realizing she'd never done that properly. "I realize this is probably just a hassle for you and...I appreciate it. So thank you."
Clearing her throat, she glanced over at him. "So how far are we lugging this around exactly?" she asked, nodding back at the cart.
"I dunno, a couple more miles, why?" He looked at her. "Getting tired already?"
She shook her head firmly, throwing him a bright smile. "I'm fine. Just wondering."
Truthfully, it was harder work than she'd been expecting. But after the fuss she'd made she couldn't tell him that.
Jack shook his head. "Guess I might as well stretch out my muscles in the mean time." And he gave two whips of his neck. It cracked loudly. "Just don't try to over do it when you pull that thing, alright?" And as he sized her up, he wondered... 'Wait- is this chick taller than me?'
But he shook that off. She was a woman. Of course she wasn't.
"So.. where did you store our drinks?" he asked, moving to look at the pile of stuff on the back of the cart she carried.
She arched an eyebrow. "Well, one of the flasks I brought was pretty much emptied when we bumped into that Dayne person. The other is on my belt." She nodded toward her hip, hands otherwise occupied.
"Woah, woah, wait... Are you telling me that's all you brought?"
She glanced over at him. "I don't exactly have a lot of places to squirrel things away," she pointed out. "Besides, can't we just fill the flasks at a stream or something?" It's not like they were going through a drought.
Jack gave a grumpy frown.
"Well of course we can. Or a well or something." Then he took a few long strides, approaching her swiftly and reached towards her hip, feeling up her sides before yanking the flask and taking it to his lips. The cool water tasted heavenly.
Fiona stiffened a bit at the touch, then berated herself. She was just being jumpy, she needed to calm down.
"You willing to share that?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, watching him drink.
Jack nearly choked. He had nearly finished the thing. He wiped off the excess water off on the back of his hand and held the flask out.
"Why don't we trade before you hurt yourself?" He really didn't want to have to carry the cart AND her.
She shrugged, reaching out to take the flask while slipping from between the shafts of the cart to give him room. She shook the thing, feeling how light it now was, and downed the last few mouthfuls. "Hope we find some place to refill soon," she commented.
Jack picked up the cart's bars with a grunt.
"We probably won't have to travel too far if we back track. The well was a few streets back near the outskirts of town, but.." He shook his head, moving forward. "I'd rather stick to the path and get away from here as quickly as we can. There are plenty of streams we can stop at along the way, but if not.." And here he frowned and looked up at the sky. "Looks like we might be getting some rain."
She glanced up as well. He was right. "Oh great," she grumbled. She didn't love rain at the best of times. Something about it was just at odds with her nature.
"Are we going to have to camp outside?" she asked with no small amount of trepidation at the prospect. Camping in and of itself wasn't too unappealing, but she didn't love the idea of doing it when everything was all...damp.
"I'm not exactly made of money, so probably? This road is kind of long, winds around and stuff before it even intersects another village. Though I was thinking of heading back to one of the bigger cities."
He had left his small shack of a home abandoned and well, he just hoped no one claimed it in his short absence.
Fiona let out a small sigh- she couldn't say she hadn't expected it- and shook herself mentally. If she couldn't handle camping in the rain, she wasn't going to last very long in the real world, was she?
She frowned a bit though, thinking. "Isn't there some kind of short cut?" she asked innocently. "We don't have to stick to the road the whole time, do we?" Being the shut-in that she was, the dangers that might be lurking off the road didn't occur to her.
He paused to look at her.
"Have you ever tried carrying a cart off road? It's hard enough on the road, let alone off of it where there's no beaten path."
She blushed. She hadn't thought of that. "Oh, right," she muttered, feeling silly. "Well, then I guess the goal is to ditch the cart as soon as we can?" she ventured.
There was more to this "outside world" thing than she'd first thought.
"Ditch the cart?" he gave her a funny look. "Wouldn't your mom be a little... pissed about that?"
She gave him a look of her own. "I'm pretty sure me leaving will have pushed her right passed pissed and well into absolutely livid. Besides," she added, shrugging, "she offered it to you before we left, so she probably wasn't expecting to get it back anyway."
Jack looked at her.
"Strange how she can just throw a cart away. They aint exactly cheap," he went on, staring down the road.
Fiona felt a twinge of guilt. "Well...I made us a decent amount of money. One cart won't bankrupt her."
She shook her head. She wasn't leaving forever, she would go back. She just wanted some freedom before she condemned herself to a lifetime in that house. "I'll bring her one when I go back," she muttered, almost to herself. "A peace offering."
"Go back?!" Jack stopped suddenly, nearly dropping his grip on the cart. "Are you crazy? What makes you think that'd be a good idea?"
She blinked at him, startled. "Well, I mean, eventually," she stammered out. Getting defensive, she added, "And it's not like I'm asking you to come with me."
"Yeah but... what's the point of you even leaving in the first place? I mean we risked our necks to get here, practically and you're already thinking about your home coming?"
She shook her head firmly. "No. Not for a while, at any rate. I just...don't want to leave things the way I did. If I can make it on my own- well, with your help at first I guess- maybe I can prove to her that it doesn't have to be...like it was."
She bit her lip, glancing away. That sounded weak even to her.
"Are you sure you're not younger than you're letting on?" Jack questioned as he continued onward again.
Fiona arched an eyebrow. "Unless Mum lied to me about my birthday," she muttered, starting after him. "Look, I know it's not a great plan. But it's the only one I've got at the moment."
Jack sighed but said nothing for a time.
"Well, this'll be a big learning experience for us both."
After all, he normally didn't keep tag alongs. It just wasn't his style.
"As long as your careful, cautious, and mostly quiet, you'll probably be fine. Living on your own.. it got its perks and well.. things that arne't so er.. perkful."
"Perkful?" Fiona repeated, lips twitching into a crooked smile. "Careful, cautious, quiet. Okay, I can do that." She nodded determinedly.
A crack of thunder up ahead made her jump and squeak, eyes widening a bit. Realizing what she'd done, she blushed and bit her lip. Yeah, great impression she just made.
If her reaction made him angry, he didn't show it for his frustration was clearly on the storm as he grumbled, "Great.. just great. A buncha dark clouds heading our way and we're in the middle of the forests. I suppose now is as good a time as any for you to learn to hate the rain as much as me." And he simply kept on pulling that cart. They had a long way to go, and rain or shine, he wanted to get back 'home' as quickly as he could.
Fiona frowned. "Shouldn't we take. Shelter or something?" she muttered, looking at the sky.
"Only if the rain or weather gets that bad. But I'm not exactly wanting to linger any closer to that town than we ought to, so unless you want to keep playing hide and seek with the guards, I suggest you just get used to it."
She huffed. "Alright, alright, fine." She threw another wary look up at the sky. "How bad is "that bad", exactly?"
He groaned, rolling his eyes.
"Look, rain and thunder ain't nothin'. But when the winds and lightning get bad, we'd better hope our asses are someplace safe."
She nodded. "Right. Okay." Another crack of thunder made her flinch and she wrapped her arms around her middle. "We should be hurrying, right?"
"Hurry?" His words were easily laced with frustration. He laughed and shook his head. "Give me a break, doll. It's not exactly like I'm dragging a loaf of bread here."
"Oh no, I wasn't implying-" she bit her lip. "Here, I'll help." She took one of the shafts, trying to lighten the load a little bit.
"Help? What? What are you doing? You're just getting in my way-" And the weight was a bit uneven, considering she couldn't handle as much as he could, or perhaps it was just that he was still bearing most of the weight when she tried to help, and he felt his muscles shake.
"If you would relax a little, let me take half the weight," she muttered. "Some teamwork, yeah?"
"Teamwork?" he appeared as if he wanted to roll his eyes but sighed. "If you say so.." And he tried, best he could, to at least give her some of the weight. Which happened to be about the same time it started to pour.
Hefting her share of the weight, she let out a quiet curse when it started to rain. "Great. Just great."
"You're the one who wanted to help with this," Jack replied sourly to her souredness.
"I meant the rain," Fiona snipped back. Already the dampness was making her irritable, and she let out a sharp breath, trying to rein it in. "Just- how much farther did you want to haul this thing, exactly?"
"You can't be tired already," came his reply, though truthfully, he too was tired. He gave a shrug. "As far as we could go before hurting ourselves?" And as if on cue, Jack misstepped, but thankfully had a good grip on the cart, or he'd be eating mud for dinner.
Fiona yelped, his misstep dragging the cart sideways. She tried to haul back, give him an anchor, and she mostly managed it. Of course, then she slipped herself, landing on her backside for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.
Swallowing a string of curses she clambered to her feet, trying to get her grip on the cart back.
Seeing the struggle, he cursed a few times himself and she'd find Jack's arms suddenly around her as he plucked her off the ground,f rom the cart and then proceeded to set her on the cart.
"Just stay there, alright? Use something for cover from the rain and just well... stay still before you hurt yourself."
She squeaked slightly in surprise, but was too stunned to struggle. "Wha-? Wait, I can't let you do all the work!" she protested, shifting on the cart and making the wrapped armor clank dully.
"And I can't stand you whining over everything when we've barely left town! Now just.. calm down and take it easy." He sighed, muttering something along the lines of 'I doubt she could afford what this might be worth.'
She opened her mouth to protest- then snapped it shut, glowering. He'd probably just say she was whining.
"Fine." She huffed, sitting back and pulling some of the fabric she'd wrapped around the armor over her head. She couldn't quite keep herself from muttering, "Can you even pull all this with me on it?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Relax, I said I got this, didn't I?" And he could only hope she'd remain quiet the rest of the journey. And though laborious, Jack found it helped ease any tension that might plague him (partially due to the fact he'd be savagely tired). Either way, the rains kept up, and the night rolled on. The only true annoyance was the winds, that whipped the rain at Jack's flesh.
When he finally had enough, half the night had passed and he grumbled something back to Fiona, "Hang on, this might get bumpy. I'm going to pull the cart up there to that cove of trees and we can rest for the night."
And with a grunt, he hefted the cart along far enough off the trail to a flat and less muddy location, before letting it just drop from his grip.
Wincing, he moved to stretch out his arms, trying to loosen the burning muscles as he went about cracking his neck.
Fiona scrambled out of the car the instant they stopped, swaying slightly on her feet as her body got used to stationary ground.
"You alright?" she asked, tilting her head at him in concern. She glanced around. "Ah...should I do something?"
Cracking his neck some more, and loudly, he turned to Fiona.
"Just make us a comfortable bed in the bed of the cart. I'm tired of being out in the rain," he went on, and slid a hand down his face and shook off the excess rain from his fingers.
She nodded and did her best to shift the armor to one side of the cart, re-wrapping the blankets and tying ends off to create a makeshift sort of tent.
She stepped back and eyed her handiwork, running her hands through her now soaking hair, pulling it from the bun at the nape of her neck. It looked like it was going to be a tight fit...
Looking to Jack, she nodded at the rather primitive shelter. "Alright, well that's the best I can do."
Jack nodded and jumped inside, the cart rocking by his weight as he unceremoniously took a seat. He wasted no time in reaching forward to unbind his laces and discarded his wet shoes and socks to one side. Raking a hand through his hair, he shook it then like a wet dog and dug a finger into his ear to get the excess water out before looking towards what little room they got.
"I'm used to sleeping alone, so no apologies if I snore." And without much further thought, he reclined back onto the ground, and stared up at the tent flap only briefly before closing his eyes.
Fiona shrugged. Honestly she was too tired to care much. Cautiously, she climbed into the small space.
It was even more cramped than being stuck in the closet with him. Shifting to one side as much as she could, she banged her elbow into a piece of armor with a clang and winced, muttering, "Sorry." She shifted around again, her wet skirts clinging uncomfortably to her legs and her corset pinching as she was forced to hunch over.
She sighed. It was gonna be a long night.
Long night or not, it didn't take long for Jack to fall asleep, mouth soon opening and he? Snoring. And moments later, the hand once resting across his chest flopped over, resting carelessly across her shoulder as she snored onward into the night.
Fiona started out of her doze, throwing Jack a wide-eyed look then relaxing when she realized he was still asleep. She tried to shift away from him a bit, but there was just no room.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to the cramped quarters, laying down so they were back to back and drawing her knees toward her chest. Despite her previous belief that she'd be too uncomfortable to sleep, she drifted off fairly quickly.
Jack awoke before she did, and it was still raining. Fog made visibility limited, and she might have awoken when Jack lifted up and began to carry the cart again. The ground was muddy and hard to by pass, but once they were on the flatter, beaten road, it was at least smoother goings. Except by now, since the rains had been endless, the entire road was mud soaked and in some places, it was nearly impossible for Jack to push through. He was up to his knees in mud and at times, had to push the cart out of ditches, and after about an hour of this, he collapsed beside the cart with a groan.
"Ansgar foresaken rain. If it don't let up..."
But he let the thought drift off as he shook his head. He turned to Fiona.
"So.. what do we got to eat? Now's a good a time as any for a break."
Able to get out of the cart now that it had stopped, Fiona slipped her way over to him, keeping a hand on the cart so she didn't go down in the mud.
"Here." She fished some strips of dried meat out of a pouch on her belt and handed them over, keeping one for herself and nibbling at it. "I had some bread, but it's sort of...soggy."
Jack leaned against the cart, taking the meat.
"I think we're all a little soggy."
Fiona gave a huff of a laugh and nodded, leaning against the cart in turn. "Do you know how much further?" she asked, taking another small bite.
"Farther than I'd like," Jack said. "Probably a day.. day and a half because of the roads... though if the weather continues.." He wrinkled his nose. "Maybe longer."
Fiona groaned quietly. "Isn't there an inn or something we can stay at along the way?" she asked with a sigh.
Tilting her head back to look at the gray sky, she added, grumbling, "Stupid rain. I knew there was a reason I didn't like you."
"Sorry, nope, I ain't got that kind of money, and besides, shouldn't you be considering this as part of your learning experience," he went on, finishing up his portion as he asked for more.
She added over another strip. "Yeah, right. Learning experience."
Her hand drifted to her belt. "Well, I have some coin..." she mused aloud. "How much would two beds for the night be?"
Jack raised a brow.
"Don't even think about it. Besides.. money aside.. guys like me aren't always welcome in taverns." He cracked his neck. "Fear of brawls after beer." He stretched his arms infront of him. "Not that I drink much anyway."
"Guys like you..." Fiona repeated slowly, tilting her head at him. "You're really not gonna explain more of this- street boxing, whatever-it-is?" She figured that's what he was referring to, at any rate.
At that, he looked at her funny.
"Explain it?" he gave a short laugh. "Do you really not know what that is?"
She pointed to her chest, raising her eyebrows. "Shut-in, remember? I don't know much about anything that's not related to blowing glass or keeping a shop."
"Oh man.." he shook his head. "But boxing... it seems kind of.. you know.. self explanatory."
"So...you just hit each other until someone wins?" she guessed, wrinkling her nose. "Then how do you decide who wins?" Did they just beat on each other until someone was unconscious? That seemed...harsh.
He shrugged.
"Basically, or until the other man can't fight anymore." He put his hand out, expecting more food. All this talk about boxing was making him more hungry.
Fiona frowned a bit. "That's...barbaric." She shrugged it off- it wasn't her life, after all- and shook her head at him. "Look, I could only carry so much food. If you wanna have anything to eat later, we can't have any more now."
"Eh, it pays," he went on with a shrug, but at her negative response to his inquiry for more food, he frowned. "Hey.. did you forget who just worked his ass off hauling you on that cart?"
She quirked an eyebrow. He'd already had twice as much to eat as her.
But still... "Fine. Here." She handed him another strip. "You could have made me walk you know," she pointed out. Actually- why hadn't he?
"And have you complain the whole time? No thank you." And he stared at her a moment before asking, "How many provisions do you got anyway?"
"I won't complain!" She tilted her head. "Well, there's a bit more of this-" she gestured with what was left of her strip of meat- "some probably now-moldy bread, two now empty water flasks, as many handfuls of chestnuts as I could grab..." She shrugged. "And I think that's it."
"Moldy bread?" he wrinkled his nose. "Why did you grab moldy bread?"
She gave him a very dry look. "I didn't grab moldy bread," she said slowly, as though talking to a child. "It's been raining, in case you hadn't noticed, and I'm not sure of it's current condition."
"If you're unsure why would you presume that. Here, let's take a look at the loaf."
Fiona rolled her eyes, but set about hunting through the deep pockets in her skirt for the loaf of bread she'd filched from the kitchen. She'd had to break it in two, so a good deal of soggy crumbs came with it when she finally fetched it out.
She wrinkled her nose a bit. Bread should not feel that spongy. "Here." She held the pieces out to him/
And Jack gave it a smile, and then shrugged and said, "Smells fine to me." He popped a piece into his mouth.
Fiona found she wasn't quite that hungry. At least not yet. "Knock yourself out," she muttered, shrugging.
"You sure?" he asked, crumbs falling out of his mouth. "We should eat the bread before it goes bad."
She sighed. He had a point. "Alright." She took half of the loaf and began nibbling at it. Yep. Spongy. Repressing a shudder, she asked between bites, "So...where exactly are you going?" He'd told her how long it would take to get there, but she realized he'd never actually clarified their destination.
"Uthlyn," he muttered. "But more south of there, Kingsbury is what the locals call it but hell, it's really just a glorified piece of Uthlyn most would rather forget about."
"Oh." Her eyes widened a bit. Uthlyn. She had never actually realized it was so close. "Why would people rather forget about it?" she asked curiously, crouching to be closer to his level.
"Eh, a lot of people dwell too much on the past. It's said a King was buried there, hence the name, because he tried to rise up against the other King at the time." Jack shrugged. "Not that it matters any to me. I just live there."
"So..." She tilted her head. "If you don't mind my asking- if you're from this Kingsbury place, how'd you end up here?" She frowned. "Well, not here. Back there. As a knight, I mean."
"So many questions," he groaned and looked to her. "I didn't want the job, alright? It was my Aunt's fault, if anything. But good riddance to that job- though thanks to it, I'm probably a wanted criminal for having to save my ass with ice. Not everyone appreciates powers for the good they can do, you know." He went on, grumbling and eating more bread.
"I do know," she said wryly, taking another bite of bread herself. Although, now that she thought about it... "Are you sure they really saw you use magic?" she asked thoughtfully. "I mean... I don't know how many people saw you fall out of that window, but it might have just been me, right?"
"Yeah? Even if they didn't, I abandoned my post. Nobles are finicky about their nights, or whatever." And he popped the remaining bite of bread into his mouth and looked at what she had left. "You gonna eat that?"
Fiona sighed and broke off half of what she had left, holding it out to here. "Here, go ahead." She shrugged. "I guess I didn't think about that... Do you even know what everyone was panicking about back there?"
"In the city or castle?" he asked through bites of bread.
"Both, I suppose," she said when she considered it. "Though I guess I really meant the castle."
"Some rebel infiltrated the castle. Needless to say, she had a mean right hook, and was determined to get rid of the help." He rubbed his cheek at the ghosting of pain. "And the city.. well why not? They just hear rebels and mages are in the area and anyone that looks suspicious, such as a knight out of place and some girl flying around with wings, and they automatically place a bounty on your head."
Fiona sighed. "Right." She rubbed the back of her neck.
Maybe going back home would be harder than she'd anticipated. "I'll have to wait until some of the panic dies down," she murmured to herself, thinking aloud.
"Well that's obvious. I mean if we turn around now, won't your mum be furious?"
Fiona shuddered at the thought. "Yeah...you know, angry guards almost seem preferable."
"Yeah, angry women are scary."
She arched an eyebrow. "So speaks a man of experience..."
"Tell me about it. Women are so whiny." And he rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck again. "So, you ready to move out?"
She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I'm ready." She moved forward to take one of the cart's shafts, hefting it with a soft grunt. "Let's go."
He supposed he shouldn't protest, and just shrugged, taking the other side. Now fed, and rested, he felt much better and the road ahead looked a little more promising, that was until he noticed another carriage coming their way.
"I was wondering when we'd run into other travelers." He turned to Fiona. "Get in the cart and just pretend like you're some house wife or somethin'. We don't need to give them any reasons that we might be suspicious. A man carrying a cart is strange enough."
She blinked at him. "Um...okay." Making sure he was balanced, she dropped her side of the cart and slipped around to the back, boosting herself into the small space they'd slept in with a soft grunt.
"Are you sure it doesn't make more sense for me to be out there?" she asked dubiously, wriggling around until her head popped out from under one of the blankets near the front of the cart.
"Look, just be quiet and I think we'll be fine. You never know what kind of people are on this road."
And he started moving again, nearing the other carriage, which seemed to be slowing down.
"I think they're gonna try to talk to us," he called back to Fiona. "So either stay quiet or hidden so we can make this quick. I don't exactly want it to take a whole other day to reach the next town."
"Sir, yes, sir," Fiona muttered, giving him a mock salute and trying to adjust her position to look more casual, combing her fingers through her rather damp and straggly hair in an effort to get it out of her face and look slightly more respectable.
But as the carriage got even closer, she'd hear Jack go, "Uh oh."
He didn't look at her before saying, "Hide. In the cart. Now."
Because the men in the carriage looked like anything but friendly.
Something in his tone made her obey without question, ducking back under the blankets and curling herself up as tight as possible, ignoring the bits of metal jabbing into her sides.
"Well, well, well- what have we here?"
"Seems we got a lone fella traveling on our turf." One of the men looked Jack over before he motioned for the carriage to halt. He looked over at the cart, then to Jack.
"You know there's a fee for this road." And the man spat some tobacco into the mud.
Jack frowned.
"Oh, a fee? What's the fee? A fist to your face?"
The men all laughed, but the man it was directed at snapped at his men to "Shut up!"
He glared over at Jack, sneering.
"Think you're a funny man?"
"Not particularly."
The man laughed, hands to his hips before drawing out a knife. He saw Jack hardly looked surprised and found himself laughing again.
"I take it you're not unfamiliar with a knife?"
Jack cracked his neck. "Not particularly. Sometimes I have to use it to cut some steak- which si a rare feat, mind you."
He had the men snickering again, but the leader held his hand up for silence. He looked Jack over.
"So a veteran with a blade?" he scoffed, and pocketed the knife, and with drew a pistol. "What about guns? How familiar are you now?"
Jack sighed.
"What do you want?"
"Your... cart..." The man went on, pointing from Jack to his cargo. "And everything in it."
Fiona, eyes wide, clapped a hand over her mouth to stop a terrified whimper from escaping. Heart hammering against her ribs, she instinctively flinched back from the voices outside. Her back knocked into the armor with a muffled clanging sound and she froze.
Oh no...
"What was that?" The men's eyes were all on the cart.
"Someone in there?"
"Or something?"
"Sounds like you got some metal... you aiming to sell things illegally without our consent?"
"Let's see exactly what he got here."
And as the leader moved to grab at the cart's blanket, Jack wasted no time in swinging his fist into the man's face, sending him to his knees, and a gun shot off into the forest.
The gun shot sparked an instinctive, almost prey-like terror in Fiona and she scrambled out of the cart with a small cry, ducking around to try to keep the bulk of it between her and the strange men. "Jack? Jack!" She looked around, panicking. Oh gods, please be okay.
And she'd hear another fist to the man's face, and he went down. But that' didn't stop Jack as he kicked the man good and hard a few times before grabbing him by his shirt collar and began to wall his fist into his face.
Gathering her courage, she darted around to the front of the cart. And froze when she saw Jack and the strangers. She repressed a wince every time Jack's fist made contact- but at least he didn't seem to be hurt.
"G-go away!" she shouted at the other men, planting her feet and wishing her voice wasn't shaking so much.
"There's a girl!" one of the men cried, who was in the back of those now charging towards Jack. He and another went after her when they deduced, "Get the girl!"
Jack heard that and let the bleeding man sit.
"Shit!" But then two other men came at his back, and kicked him square in the back of his ribs.
Fiona instinctively turned to run, then stopped. Darting forward, she went for the men attacking Jack, bringing her fist down- probably uselessly- on one's back. "Leave us alone!"
And that man turned on her, and slapped her hard across the face. And at that, Jack roared, tossing the man that tried to grapple onto him off into the air and then grabbed Fiona's assaulter, and let him eat fist.
Her head snapped to the side and she staggered back, seeing stars. Reaching out to steady herself against the cart, Fiona panted and just stared, fear and shock immobilizing her.
And that's when a man grabbed her from behind, a dagger to her throat.
"Stop yer fightin' right now!" the man boomed. "'fore I cut her pretty little throat!"
And the second Jack saw what was going on, he sneered, dropped his grip and stood there, just as one of the other men wailed a fist into his face. The man holding Fiona laughed, pressing his face nice and close to hers.
"Be sure to keep your eyes open, girlie. We're going to have fun bleedin' up your husband!"
Fiona gave a sharp cry when Jack was hit, infuriated by her own helplessness. "Stop, stop!" she pleaded, struggling against her captor's hold until the blade bit into her neck, making her freeze.
"Please, just stop," she sobbed, shaking. "J-just let us go, we haven't done anything! What do you want?"
The men were hardly going to oblige, and just as the man raised the blade ready to strike- he let out a gasp, arm jerking- but frozen, in midair. There was a crackling sound, as his arm was slowly being incased in ice.
"Wh-wh-what the- What the hell!?" he screamed, trying to pull away, but the ice had him trapped, and soon the man's friends were dropping their hold on Jack.
"He's a mage!"
"Run for it!"
And their master howled. 'You idiots, help me out of this!" But his companions had no back bone as they turned tail to run, leaving the man screaming as his arm was nearly incased in the ever growing ice casing.
Fiona jerked away from the man and skidded to her knees next to Jack. "Oh my gods," she breathed, panicky and still crying a bit. Her hands fluttered, trying to find a way to help. "Oh my gods, are you okay?" She winced. Alright, stupid question.
"Wh-What can I do?" she asked instead, glancing back at the man with a now iced-over arm. she felt heat rising in her chest, mirrored eyes starting to snap with an inner fire as fear was gradually replaced with rage.
The man was still howling, and Jack's breathing was labored. They had done a number on him, especially in his ribs. He groaned and tried to sit up, peering over at the man still crying out in pain.
"We get the hell away from here, that's for sure." He had used magic, and after the cries of 'Mage!' and the evidence in the ice encased arm, Jack wasn't sure he wanted to pick that fight back up with the guards.
"We'll have to ditch the cart," he growled. Of course they had to, but to travel quick enough to get away from those men, from any ear shot, from any hunters....
He saw little else they could do.
"Come on." And with a gruff grunt, he shakily got to his feet, and moved to wipe a forearm against his blood leaking nose.
Nodding, Fiona reached out automatically to steady him, glancing nervously over her shoulder at their shrieking once-attacker.
"The forest?" she asked quietly, starting to move forward and then pausing when she realized she didn't know which direction to go. The trees seemed like a good option- more places to hide.
"Well the streets will lead us to whever those men just ran," he said through a haggard breath. "LEt's.. just keeping heading that way, okay? I want to clear a lot of space between us and the road." And he gestured in no direction in particular. Just one that had trees.
She gave a sharp nod and darted off the road, making her way quickly into the trees. "We need to stop soon, take a look at you," she said over her shoulder, wincing a bit at his injuries. Maybe when they'd got to a safe distance he'd submit to some care.
"Yeah, yeah," he went on, itching at more blood from his nose. "I've had worse. If anything, I'd want to stop for some water." His throat was parched!
Okay, water. Fiona tilted her head, listening. "Does that sound like a stream?" She changed direction slightly, making her way toward the sound of running water.
Jack limped a little behind her.
"I hope so. Or a river. A river would be better. Than I could at least properly wash out all these blood stains." And he felt some of the blood and dirt in his mouth, made a face while swishing it around before spitting it into the grass.
Fiona paused, then turned back and ducked under his arm, making him lean on her shoulders. "C'mon," she muttered, not looking at him as she tugged him along.
They trees thinned, then opened up at the bank of a rather narrow creek. Better than a stream, not as good as a river. Well, it would do. Glancing around warily, she pulled him down to the water's edge and urged, "Sit," before turning and ripping a strip of fabric off her skirt to dip in the creek.
"Sit?" he groaned as he obliged.
"Why can't I just let myself drop into the river." He coughed. "Or at least get me some of it to drink. I don't care how dirty it might be." Though the water further out looked less debris filled, clean.
"Just give me a minute." She knelt in front of him, patting at his bloody nose and split lip with the wet cloth. "Here," she said, pressing it into his hands. "I'll get some water."
Eyeing the water a little warily, she hiked her skirt up and started wading into the creek, further out toward the cleaner water, where she uncapped one of the flasks at her hip and bent to fill it.
He simply held onto the piece of fabric, sighing as he stared out listlessly at the river.
Fiona made her way back to the bank, both flasks now full. She held one out to him as she climbed back onto dry land, shivering.
"Gods, that water is cold," she muttered, looking down at herself and frowning. She was soaked to the waist.
He knocked back most of his drink.
"Yeah, it could be worse," he sighed, looked at the rest of the water int he flask before downing that too. Then he began to remove his shirt, tossing it aside.
"I think I'll wash off."A nd he moved down to loosen his belt.
Not paying attention, Fiona muttered, "Good luck, it's freezing in there-" Her eyes moved up to him and she yelped when she realized he was intending to strip.
"Gods!" Blushing and scowling, she floundered for a moment before turning her back. "Warn a girl, would you?!"
"What?" he paused what he was doing. "Oh come on, you can't be serious. Have you really not seen a naked man before? Come on, you act as if I'm doing this to give you a show. I'm bleeding all over. And I'd rather not get my clothing soaked... so just.." He stared at the back of her form before grunting. "Just stay like that."
And he wriggled out of his pants, boots already tossed aside as he began to splash his way out towards deeper waters.
Her blush deepened but she didn't turn around, even eleven she heard the splash as he entered the water. "You say that like it's a bad thing," she grumbled, folding her arms over her chest and huffing.
A quick gust blew by and she shivered in her wet dress. She glanced down at herself with a sigh, thinking a fire might be in order. "Do you think we should stop here to rest?" she asked, starting to turn toward Jack before she flushed and stopped herself.
He could hear her just barely over the splashing, so he paused and wiped dripping water from his face.
"yeah, here is as good as any. I don't think we'll be followed that quickly."
But he'd been wrong before!
"I hope you're right," she muttered. Looking around, she tried to find wood that wasn't too damp and set to work attempting to build a fire.
WHen he was washed good enough, he stumbled back to shore. Everything hurt, but at least the waters helped with some of the swelling. He plopped down nakedly on a fallen log near the river, only the tall grasses and river reeds keeping him modest as he began to examine his wounds more closely.
Hearing him get out of the water, Fiona changed a look in his direction, blushed, and returned to her fire building. When the wood was in an appropriate pile, she lit it with a long breath, sighing in relief as warmth began to seep through her.
Gods it felt good to dry off, even a little. "Jack," she called, standing and turning her back to him. "Get over here and dry off before you get dressed so you don't catch cold. I'll just...do something...somewhere else," she finished in a mumble.
"Workin' on it," he said with a grunt. "It's not exactly as easy as it looks. And I have more surface area than you." Never mind they were probably about the same height. He was just counting his muscles.
Biting her lip, Fiona sort of half looked over her shoulder. "Do you- ah...do you need help?"
That made Jack paused as he gave a dry, bark of a laugh.
"Ha! First you yell at me for nearly giving you a free show, here you want to help me dry my wet body?" He shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. You're too young for that sort of thing anyway." And he continued what he was doing, taking his good old time.
"Hmph!" Fiona sputtered indignantly, crossing her arms and scowling, wishing she could turn around to direct the expression at him. "Just- hurry up, would you? I'm freezing and I wanna get by that fire," she grumbled, cheeks hot.
"WHy don't you just get near it? Not like what I have is something different than other men."
Then again, women seemed to pretend to be so frail all the time. But he had seen enough women that even frightened him.
He moved to grab his clothing.
"All dry. Just hand me that belt, would ya?" And he began to slip on his pants.
Easy for him to say, but she wasn't exactly familiar with what any men had. "Oh, uh, sure." she bent and snatched up the belt, then turned to hand it to him, giving a quiet sigh of relief as she stepped closer to the fire. "Here."
He was throwing his shirt back on when he accepted the belt.
"Thanks."
Relieved he was dressed again, Fiona sank down in front of the fire, spreading her skirt out in an effort to make it easier to dry.
"How are you feeling?" she asked Jack slowly, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't...quite see everything. Where are you hurt?"
He quirked a brow.
"I thought you didn't want to see everything?" It wasn't a joke, his voice was sour, but he lamely began to fumble his fingers over his mouth and winced every now and again when his fingers came across a blister, cut or wound.
"Eh.. I've had worse, so don't worry about it."
"I don't-!" She sighed, shaking her head. "Look, being all stupid and macho isn't going to do either of us any good. If you're hurt you should just say something. Maybe I can help." How exactly she wasn't sure, but she was certainly willing to try. She definitely owed it to him.
"Macho and stupid?" he made a face, shaking his head as he looked away from her. "Ansgar save me now... Look doll, I'll be fine. I do this for a living. In fact, this would be considered a good day in the ring."
Fiona winced. "How can you do that to yourself?" she murmured without thinking. "How does your family stand it? I barely know you and I-" She swallowed, looking away awkwardly. She'd never been so scared in her life, not even flying out of a window chased by a pack of guards.
"Family?" he laughed. "Not everyone has one. Suppose it's for the better. I couldn't see me liking it at all. Women are just so.." He wrinkle dhis nose. "Nagging all the time."
"Well excuse me," she huffed, folding her arms and glaring at the fire. "Sorry to nag. I was worried about you!" She realized that he might not be talking about her specifically, that maybe she was being defensive, but she was tired and cold and still scared and she didn't really care.
"Exactly! You should be worrying about yourself, not me! It's not like I didn't choose what I do!" he went on, grumbling.
"I don't want to worry about myself!" she snapped without thinking. "If I start worrying about me, then-"
The memory of that feeling of helplessness swamped over her and she snapped her mouth shut, a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold running through her. Her vision started to go blurry and she blinked, looking away.
If she started to worry about herself, she was going to break. And she couldn't afford to do that, not now. She couldn't go back home like this, defeated.
"Finally," he sighed, appearing none the wiser she was in any distress. And he began to pick at his wounds.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Fiona looked over at him after a moment. "You want help bandaging those?" she offered quietly, expecting him to brush her off with some snappy retort.
"Eh.. none of them are that deep. I'll live."
She opened her mouth to protest- he needed some kind of medical attention- then snapped it closed, thinking he'd probably consider it "nagging".
"Umm...thanks," she muttered after a moment, feeling as though she should. "Back there, if you hadn't- I mean, if I'd been alone-" She cleared her throat, feeling incredibly awkward, and repeated in a mumbled, "Thanks."
He peered over at her.
"If you'd been alone?" he snorted at the idea. "Look, it's guys like those you gotta be cautious about. Livin' out here... you always have to have one eye on everything else, while the other still focuses back here."
Fiona nodded. She was starting to understand what he meant. "Aren't you worried they'll tell someone about you?" she asked quietly. "About your magic I mean?"
He shrugged.
"I'll worry about it if they can actually name me. I doubt any of them know my real name or that I even live nearby. Most people around here are too afraid of their own shadows having magic or that the thoguht of uttering magic at all might sentence them instead of the person who's actually the mage." He rolled his eyes at that. People were so simple sometimes.
Shivering, she shook her head and scooted closer to the fire. "I knew it was bad, but..." A small sigh and she reached out to warm her hands against the flames. "They ran like you were some sort of monster," she murmured, glassy eyes staring at the fire. "I mean, it was definitely good for us, but still..."
Another head shake, this one confused and resigned. "Why is it like this? We haven't done anything." maybe she wasn't a mage, exactly, but she was close enough that she felt comfortable lumping herself in with "we".
"Uh, hello? Did you forget that I froze that guys arm?"
"I don't mean just us, just today," she replied exasperatedly. "I mean- people like you." Okay, so maybe he wasn't exactly an innocent. Still. "People with magic."
A tiny smile twitched at her lips despite herself and she added, "You, specifically- I'm not sure I even want to know everything you've done."
"What do you mean? You accusing me of being a criminal?"
She raised her eyebrows a bit. "You aren't?" She shrugged. "They way you were talking about this street boxing thing, I sorta assumed it was illegal. My mistake."
He rolled his eyes.
"So? Magic use is illegal too. I'm not stupid, but I'm also not gonna pass up a means to make a livin'. Gotta survive somehow."
She couldn't really argue with that. She didn't know how to survive in the world outside her home and little shop, as was becoming painfully clearer with each passing hour.
So she just shrugged and made a noncommittal sound, staring at the fire. "Well, I guess if it's gotten you this far, who am I to argue?" she murmured vaguely.
"To be fair, someone like you couldn't live that way."
Though that was probably stating the obvious!
Fiona shot him a quick glare and a snipped, "I'm aware, thank you." With a small sigh, she glanced around and shifted closer to the fire. "Do you...think it's safe to sleep?" Now that she was warming up and her adrenaline had ebbed, exhaustion was creeping in.
"Sleep?" he laughed. "Can you seriously sleep after all that? Hell, I could crack more faces in if I were asked," he went on with a cracking roll of his shoulders followed by a side to side cracking of his neck.
She gave him a dry look. "I'm sure you could, but I am exhausted," she grumbled. she had shifted so close to the fire by now that she was practically sitting in the embers. "Besides, shouldn't we be getting sleep while we can? We still have quite a ways to go, don't we?"
Jack sighed.
"If you're that tired, sleep." He sat so his back was now to her, eyes towards the forest.
"I'll keep watch. Can't sleep now anyway," and he gave a gentle touch to his swollen cheek.
"Um...thanks." Fiona laid down, curved around her side of the fire with her head pillowed on her arms. "When you get tired, wake me. I can take a watch..." Her eyes fluttered and she yawned, her body feeling drained and heavy.
"Don't worry about it. Just rest."
"Okay. Thanks..." She yawned again, nestling down into the ground and allowing herself to drift off to sleep.
When he was certain she was asleep, he spent a good twenty minutes picking his nose and flicking the boogers into the grass. He also spent some of the time getting more fuel for the fire and using some cold stones buried beneath nearby tree roots to rest over his aching cheek. But despite his claim to protect her as she slept, he eventually found himself drifting off to sleep as well.
It was the cold that woke her, the death of the fire signalling it was time for her to get up. Shivering, Fiona sat up and yawned, rubbing her arms and looking around blearily. "Jack?" She yawned again. "Jack, where've you gone to now?" She was still half asleep, not noticing him nestled in the roots of the tree.
Although...
His snores might lead her there.
The sound did indeed draw her attention, and with a groan she stood and stretched, then made her way to the tree, stumbling a bit. "Jack." She bent to shake his shoulder lightly. "And he said he wasn't tired- can't sleep now anyway," she mumbled, brow furrowing.
Her shaking didn't rouse him. Instead, he shrugged it off and turned his head away.
"Five more minutes..." he grumbled, and returned to his snores.
Fiona grumbled, crouching down so she could take both his shoulders and shaking more insistently. "Jack, come on. Get up."
"Ugh!" His own arms went out to grab her by the shoulders to stop her. "Cut that out, will ya?" he groaned. "What the heck are you doing anyway? Is someone trying to rob us or something."
She flinched a bit at his grip but stopped shaking him. "No, but we've been asleep for a while. I thought maybe we should get moving again."
Concern creeping into her tone, she added, "Unless you're not feeling up to it?" She was sure he was probably sore, though she didn't really know what she could do to help with that.
Jack groaned, rubbing at his cheek.
"Well.. I was asleep, no thanks to you." He sighed, irritably. "Here.. move aside." And he moved to stand. "I have to piss."
"Oh, er, sorry." She scuttled to the side and turned her back. "Do you...think we should keep moving then?" she ventured, fiddling with the hem of her skirt while she waited for him to do his business.
And the noise he made as he pissed behind the tree would make even a whore blush. And it seemed to last forever, the urine stream powerful to the very end. When all was said and done, he fixed up his pants and made his way back to Fiona.
"If you gotta piss, now's a good time," he said, jerking his thumb to the more private, foliaged areas of the forest.
Face very red, Fiona stood and muttered, "Yeah, um. Be right back." She shuffled off into the foliage.
Peeing in the woods was not an easy task, she discovered, and it was a good few minutes before she returned, scowling in frustration. "We going then?" she asked grumpily, looking at Jack.
By then, he had fallen back to sleep, leaning against a tree.
Rolling her eyes, Fiona didn't bother with gentle shaking this time. "Oi." She nudged her toe into Jack's side. "Up you get."
And on reflex, he swung out a fist to punch.
The blow caught her hip and Fiona went down with a cry, instinctively rolling away from him. "What the hell?!" she shouted, wincing in pain and glowering at him.
Jack blinked, staring at her.
"What..... just happened?"
"You hit me, you great eejit," Fiona growled, climbing to her feet and rubbing at her hip, wincing. "Gods, there are politer ways of asking for a few more minutes of sleep."
Jack snorted.
"If I was asleep you probably deserved it." But it was grumbled, as was his apology. "Er, sorry. But one has to learn to use reflexes when sleeping alone."
"Yeah, I'll remember that," she grumbled, swiveling her hips a bit and wincing. "Gods, you aren't kidding around with that whole boxing thing." With a sigh, she dusted at her skirts and crossed her arms. "Alright, we leaving now then?"
He frowned as he watched her walk.
"Maybe... here.. sit down." He walked over to her, a hand on her shoulder, eyes on her hip.
"Let me at least take a look at it- make sure I didn't do too much harm to it or somethin'."
"It's fine, probably just bruised," she said quickly, though she let him guide her into a sitting position. Arching an eyebrow, she muttered, "How are you going to look at it anyway?" She had a layer of skirts and corset for him to contend with of he even wanted to try.
"Well, look is relative," he grunted. "I can normally tell if something's broken by touch." And he went ahead to man handle her hip.
Fiona squeaked a bit and tried to flinch away from his hand, but the jerky movement hurt and she hissed in a breath, freezing in place. A soft blush crept up her neck to her cheeks and she looked away, trying to hide it.
"Well?" she mumbled, feeling awkward. She wasn't used to people just touching her like that. Particularly not male people. "What's the verdict?"
He gave it a few good squeezes before shrugging and standing up.
"Bruised. Definitely bruised. You're lucky that seems to be about it. I could have dislocated it or worse."
"I believe it," she muttered, standing as well. "Okay. Satisfied? Good, then let's get going."
She turned to march off, paused, then slowly turned back to him, clearing her throat and flushing. "I- ahem...don't know where I'm going."
Jack was cracking his lower back.
"Neither do I. We just need to find the road. I think we came from this direction." And he decided to just try that way.
Fiona shrugged. "Fair enough." That seemed like the right direction. She trailed after him, her gait a little awkward as she worked through the soreness in her hip.
As the road came into view, he noticed her strange walk.
"What's wrong with you? Your hip didn't seem that bad."
"What? Oh, it's not." She made a face. "My corset is digging into the bruise a bit, that's all." She made an effort to walk more normally. "Come on, we're in a hurry, yes?" she muttered, moving passed him toward the road.
"We're not in a hurry anymore. What's the point? No one'd be tailing us now. So we can take our sweet old time." He wasn't a man that liked to be rushed, anyway.
"Oh." Fiona slowed, glancing at him. "Um...alright then." She glanced down the road in both directions and asked, trying to sound nonchalant and not like she was a little terrified at the idea, "You're sure no one will be after us anymore?"
"Probably not the same idiots," he went on with a shrug, choosing a direction and walking in it.
Probably.
"Probably," she repeated, brow furrowing, as she followed after him. "That's encouraging." She found herself gravitating a little closer to him almost instinctively, as though there was someone following them.
"It's not like I got any bounty on my head," he went on with a scratch to his hair. "And I doubt those men are the type to report me, as seedy as they were. It'd be like turning themselves in if they tried." And he gave a shrug about it, only then noticing she was kind of close as he stumbled over her feet. "Hey, watch it there. You know you don't have to walk so close to me."
"Oh, um, sorry." She backed off, not realizing she'd been so close. At the mention of "bounty", even in assurance that there wasn't one, she paled slightly.
He looked at her.
"You look funny. Are you sick?"
"Hm? What- No. No I'm fine. Just..." She waved a hand airily. "Er, bounty. You said bounty, and it got me thinking...what if those guards send someone after us?"
"They won't. They're the ones with a bounty on their heads, not me."
"Right, right." Still worrying her bottom lip a bit, Fiona tried to force the thought from her mind. She still lingered on the memories of the previous day's confrontation though, and an idea struck her.
Well, it couldn't hurt to ask, could it? "Hey, Jack? Do you think you could...teach me how to fight? Nothing fancy, just enough so I can defend myself." She never wanted to feel that helpless again.
"What?" he made a face. "Why? You can breath fire, I'm pretty sure that's a pretty damn good means of defense."
"Well. Yes." He had a point. "But- what If I get stuck in some situation where I can't use my fire? It's better to be prepared, right?"
"Yeah, but come on," he went on, pausing in his stride to look at her. "You can't expect me to teach you boxing."
Fiona frowned at him. "Well, why not? It's obviously worked for you, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, but I'm a man!"
She stopped walking. "Excuse me?!" Fiona propped her fists on her hips. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"What?" he looked her over. "You're a girl. It has a lot to do with.. everything," he went on, gesturing to her form. Only then realizing a bit...
was she as tall as he was?
"I can't box because I'm a girl?" That didn't make any sense to her. "Well, why the hell not?"
"Your arms are puny, for starters," he pointed out. "You don't seem the fighting type... and who would box with a girl?" he laughed. "Really!"
"That's why you should teach me!" She resisted the urge to pout. "I can bulk up. And it's not as if I want to box the way you do, for money. I just..." She bit her lip. "I don't want to feel helpless like that again," she admitted, looking at her feet.
"Then don't be helpless." As if it was as simple as that,a nd he continued walking onward!
"Hey."
Fiona grabbed his shoulder. She was angry now. "You think it's that easy? Why are you so against this?!"
"Because you're a girl and I'm not a teacher! Geeze, how much more of it do I have to explain?"
"I'm a girl is not a good enough reason!" She glared, folding her arms over her chest. "You don't have to be a teacher, not really. Just- just help me, a little?"
"Look, Fiona," he turned to her with a stern look. "No matter which way you look at it, it's teaching! And I'm here just as a guide, not... well... a teacher! Geeze!" STubborn broad!
"Gods!" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "You- you- you are the most stubborn person I have ever met in my life!"
"Hey, lady, I think you got it backwards cause no means no!" Clearly he wasn't in the wrong here!
With a growling sound of supreme irritation, Fiona stamped forward and poked an accusing finger at his chest. "Fine. Fine. Then just go ahead and guide, if that's all you're going to do."
Every other word was accentuated by another poke.
"That is all you said you were gonna pay me to do," he went on, furrowing his brow. What was with all the poking? She had pointy little fingers. It kinda hurt.
"Right." One more poke for good measure. "Then lead the way, Guide." She gestured to the open road ahead.
"Good." And that was that. He lead the way, though for the most part, it was quiet and well...
boring. He figured he was heading the right way because he could see the Well Tower from Squire's Hill. They were making it at least to the outskirts, anyway, and Jack's pace began to quicken at the sight.
Still fuming silently, Fiona followed at his heels. She noticed when his pace picked up though, and made an effort to fall into step beside him. "Are we getting close?"
"Yeeeeeep, and thank God for that. Come on. There's a tavern we can stop at beyond Well Tower. It'll be nice to get a couple of drinks and something warm to eat." He was starving, after all!
"Warm," she repeated with feeling, nodding and picking up her own pace. "Don't suppose there'd be a place we could stay the night that's actually indoors?"
He shrugged.
"Probably but that costs even more money, and I'd rather waste my coin on food. Sleep can happen anywhere."
She bit back a sigh. "Right. Okay." Well, warm food was better than nothing. Hurrying her pace a bit anxiously, she muttered, "Let's hurry up then, yeah?"
Jack hurried about as much as he wanted to- which really wasn't him hurrying at all. He kept the same pace he always did, and when they found themselves at The Sunflower, the decore inside made Jack a bit queasy. The place was also mostly empty- in fact, except for the pair of them and some old man sipping soup in a corner, they were the only one's there. The old man had stopped his eating to stare at them, but he said nothing, just stared...
and stared.
Jack was still looking around.
"Anyone home?" he called out, frowning. "A couple of customers just walked in.. Hello?"
Suppressing her frustration with Jack's pace, Fiona found herself actually falling behind him as he led them into The Sunflower looking around a little nervously. The old man's stare was disconcerting and she tucked herself even more behind Jack's form, hunching a bit an an effort to make herself smaller.
"Maybe we should try somewhere else?" she suggested quietly.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Listen, doll, I got this," he told her, hand up to gesture her to stop her whining! He turned from her when he heard a noise. "Hey! Somebody here want to serve us?"
And then a young, sweet faced girl, not much older that Fiona, poked her head out from the door way. She was red cheeked with a mess of curly brown hair and freckles covering her everywhere.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Give me a moment, won't you? I was kneading the bread in the back!"
Disappearing from sight, Jack sighed impatiently as he gave a roll of his eyes.
"Just hurry up! The pair of us are starving! The roads are too long between towns around these parts," and he moved to a table and let himself drop into a chair.
"Um, thank you!" Fiona called after the girl, elbowing Jack gently before she took a seat herself. "Would it kill you to be nice? She's just doing her job," she pointed out.
Still, she had to admit she was hungry, and maybe a little hustle on the serving girl's part would be appreciated.
That didn't mean they had to be rude about it though.
The woman returned with a smudge of flour across her nose and her cheeks, even pinker. She had a pitcher of water in one hand and two mugs shoved under her arm. She set them on the table before pouring them each a cup.
"Cool water should help you for starters, fresh from the well," she went on with a smile. "'ave the pair of you come far?"
"Oh, thank you," Fiona said with feeling, guzzling about half the cup before answering politely, "A day or two's walk, not too bad really."
It certainly didn't seem so bad with the prospect of real food so close.
"Ah, a lot of folks take a few days to get 'ere if they're travelin'." She looked between them both with a smile before Jack looked to her with an impatient sigh.
"Look, lady, do we need to spell it out? We've traveled for too long and some warm food would be nice."
She stared at Jack a moment before giving him a rigid nod.
"Very well. Enjoy your water. I'll fetch something now." And she disappeared into the back room.
"Oh-" Fiona wanted to call after her, but she didn't quite know what to say.
With a huff, she turned her attention to glare at Jack. "Was that really necessary?" she demanded, voice biting.
He furrowed his brow at her.
"What?"
"The poor girl is just doing her job," she whisper-scolded, frowning at him. "Did you really have to bite her head off like that?"
"What are you talking about?" he went on, scratching at his head. He looked at his fingers and made a face. He needed to wash his hair. It was a bit too greasy even for him. "We came here for food, not chit chat."
she sighed, dropping her head in her hands. Hopeless. He was completely hopeless. "Yes, but there are politer ways to go about getting it," she pointed out in a mumble, more for the form of things than because she thought he'd actually listen to her.
It was left at that, and when the food was served he immediately began to scarf it down with a moan.
Smiling and thanking the girl, Fiona tucked into her meal with no less gusto but maybe a bit more decorum. "Gods, I was starving," she mumbled when she actually paused a moment to breathe.
"Yeah," Jack agreed, belching. He called out to the girl again. "Can we get more water and some bread?"
She resisted the urge to reprimand him again and simply continued eating, though at a slower pace now. "Are there a lot of places like this in the city?" she asked curiously, looking around.
"What? In the city?" he had to laugh. "Listen, there are places ten times this size, easily, and found on just about every corner you turn onto. Cities are thriving and house too many people you'll probably get nauseous from the smell."
"Oh." Fiona blinked, trying to picture that. Gods, she was really in over her head, wasn't she?
Jack let out a belch before starting to pick at his teeth, looking around the room but seeming to get lost in his gristle picking. The damn piece of food was a stubborn thing, and try as he might, no matter the angle he pinched his fingers or dug in his short nails, it didn't seem to want to get free.
She wrinkled her nose at him and sighed, taking another sip of her drink and trying not to look at Jack. "You know, I've been a shut-in for the past twenty-two years and I'm pretty sure I still have better manners than you," she noted in a quiet grumble.
He raised a brow at her, and continued to pick at his teeth.
"Yeah? You think manners got you here?"
Damn, so stubborn! And soon he was cursing at the meat and fighting at it with is tongue.
Fiona arched an eyebrow. "I think you got me here," she admitted. No point in denying that. "And I'm grateful. But I think it wouldn't kill you to have been a little politer to that girl. Or maybe act with a bit of decorum now."
And at that, Jack paused to look at her, lowering his hand to the table after flicking the piece of food he did manage to free from his teeth, onto the floor.
"Is that all you have to say? Cause I think it's time we ought to pay and leave."
She sighed. "Yeah, that's all. Let's go then." Standing, she arched her back in a quick stretch and looked around for the girl who'd served them.
Jack was stretching in kind, and it was then the girl returned. Jack gave her to coin for the food, and a little extra for the tip (he wasn't made of money, after all) before moving towards the door, not seeming to wait to see if the girl would follow. He'd just presumed she would, and he wasn't a man that held doors open for women anyhow. It just wasn't his thing.
Fiona nodded and thanked the girl, then quickly hurried after Jack. "So. Where to now?" she asked, falling into step beside him.
"We keep moving," he went on with a shrug. "Night's coming soon. We should travel as far as we can, then we camp again. Or, if we make it to the city, I guess we could try to find a place reasonably cheap to sleep at."
"Alright." She nodded and gave a little shrug of her own. "Ah- reasonably cheap? What does that mean, exactly?"
She didn't really have a lot of basis for comparison.
"Basically, anything that's free or close to it," he went on with a dry laugh. "I'm not made out of money. In fact, I'm nearly out of it right now, so you'd be wise to remember that, kid."
Fiona frowned at him. "I'm not a kid," she grumbled, the little pout that slid across her face rather belying the steel she tried to put in her tone.
"Yeah, yeah, tell that one to your mommy."
She glowered at him. "You know what? Fuck you."
Her eyes widened a bit, almost surprised herself that the words had actually left her mouth, but she didn't take it back.
And that's when he paused and put his hands up.
"Hey, woah now, I think you're stepping over the line here," he went on with a shake of his head. "First of all... you? You're just a kid. And I don't exactly think it'd be pleasant if we were to rut. Besides.." he gestured towards her. "You... ain't exactly my type."
Not that he probably had a type!
Fiona was actually confused for a moment, then she gaped at him. "What- you-!"
Words failed her and, flushing deeply, she snapped her mouth closed and narrowed her eyes. "Let me be more specific then. Go fuck yourself. I want absolutely no part of that equation."
Her tone had an appropriate amount of bite, but her cheeks were positively flaming. "And I am not a kid!" she added, petulantly.
"Yeah yeah, yeah, you think you're an adult now or somethin'?" he went on, picking inside his ear good and deep. "Kids live with their parents," he pointed out.
She glowered at him. "I didn't have much of a choice," she spat. "Why do you think I jumped at the chance to convince you to take me with you? I was clearly desperate."
Hands folded over his chest, he simply snorted, "Clearly. Now less yapping and more walking. At this rate, we'll be sleeping by the dung heaps by the barn over there." And he wrinkled his nose. He could smell that shit from here!
Still grumbling to herself, Fiona snapped her mouth shut and glowered at her feet as she started walking again, arms folded over her chest.
And in the silence, Jack began to whistle.
Fiona glanced up at him, a little surprised by something so carefree. though honestly she probably shouldn't have been.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, but eventually the low squatting fortresses that were akin to Matron's Hallow came into view. Jack whistled at the sight as he looked at the place just as the sun was beginning to rise.
"Home sweet home. Looks like we made it in pretty decent timing!" he gestured forward. "You see that, Fiona? That's Matron's Hallow."
"Oh." Fiona's eyes widened slightly. It was certainly bigger than the little manor town she'd grown up in. Much bigger.
"It's- it's actually quite pretty, in an odd way," she noted with some surprise, tilting her head and smiling slightly.
"Yeah, I guess it's better than most of the pretty flat forests we've been scaling through." Jack gave a shrug as they kept walking. "See the lake over there? That's where we're headed... well, more or less. I don't exactly live on the lake, but there are some cheaper real estate options nearby where a guy like me could at least claim a small space to call his own." He rolled his shoulders, then gave his neck a crack.
"At least now we won't be doin' much more traveling." He was kind of tired of all this walking. It sucked to be poor.
"You live by a lake?" Her glassy eyes lit up slightly. She'd never actually seen such a large body of water before.
Suddenly feeling much better, Fiona nodded and gave a quiet laugh. "Yeah, just a little further, then we can take a real rest." That seemed like a very good idea.
"Yeah, a real rest... assuming squatters or vagabonds haven't ransacked my home," he grumbled, recalling a few times before this where it had happened. He rolled his shoulders again, cracking his knuckles, one palm into the next.
"You're joking?" She glanced at him. "You're not joking." Fiona blinked. "People really...do that?"
"Well yeah..." he went on, looking at her with a funny scrunched up face. "There are a lot of homeless people. Any means of shelter and the hungry come out ten fold."
"Oh." Fiona frowned slightly. "That's...really sad," she murmured, biting at her bottom lip. A hissing voice in the back of her mind mused that maybe she wasn't cut out for this sort of thing after all, but she shoved it away.
"Yeah but it's all over the place, really," he went on, shrugging nonchalantly as they were approaching the city gates. "Hell, even other countries have the same problem."
"Mm..." She gave a noncommittal sort of noise and found herself wrapping her arms around her torso.
Shaking her head, Fiona tried to force the sorrow and trepidation away.
They had little problems at the gate when the guards on duty inquired as to what business they had in the city, but after checking them both over and not finding anything to prove their innocence other wise, they let the pair on in. However, Jack was paused when one of the soldier's placed a han don his shoulder.
"Sir... Your name. I almost forgot but we are instructed to ensure all men of suitable age get their draft papers for the army."
Fiona blinked. "Draft?" She looked between the guard and Jack. "What draft?"
"The Grand Duke just ordered a mandatory draft," the guard went on to explain. "Just this week, really, so I'm not surprised if you twos had been traveling you hadn't 'eard of it."
"So.... what is it you're saying?" Jack went on, making a face. He just wanted to get home.
Seeing Jack's impatience, the guard simply smiled and reached into his bag of things before producing a sealed scroll.
"Consider yourself a part of the army now. Every man must join. Honor, and the Grand Duke's word, dictates it."
"Wait- what?" Fiona's eyes widened. "But- but that's not fair! You can't just force people to fight in an army against their will!"
"Against their will?" the guard looked confused. "It is our duty, as men," he went on, an arm folded across his chest. "To serve our Grand Duke, and our country!"
Jack still said nothing, his hands clutching tightly to the letter.
But he simply shrugged and turned to leave.
"Yeah, okay, I'll just keep this in my coat pocket," he muttered, shoving it into his pants pocket instead as he just kept on moving.
Fiona was about to argue further, but then Jack was moving on and she had to hurry after him. "What is it with you people and being men?" she demanded in a low growl. "You won't teach me to fight. They won't let you not fight! None of this makes any bloody sense!"
He turned to her and stuffed the paper into her hand.
"Then here, it's your papers so you can fight."
Fiona blinked at him, pretty sure he was just being difficult, then looked at the papers. "But- they wouldn't let a woman fight. Would they?"
She frowned. "Besides, why the hell would I want to make life worse for-" she trailed off, glanced around, then said in a quieter voice, "For people like us?"
"Whadya mean worse? I'm pretty sure it's about as bad as bad can be," he went on with a nonchalant, but sneery shrug.
She frowned, not sure if he was right about that or not. "Maybe," she conceded quietly. "But this damn war- God, the fighting just makes things so much worse..."
"Oh? Have you fought in it?" he asked, sourly. "It's other men's wars you know, and like you said, a woman ain't allowed to fight."
Fiona glowered at him. "If they're pulling random men off the streets to draft, I think it's safe to say this has gone too far," she snapped. "You can't tell me you support this?"
"Woah, woah, woah!" He threw his hands up. "Look, kid, I didn't say anything about supportin' anyone, alright?"
"So then you're against it." She folded her arms, evidently quite sure that it really was that black and white. "You have to be on one side or the other."
"Look, I'm on no side but my side. Ansgar's sake, woman! It's hard enough to get by with my own agenda, let alone becoming a pawn for either side of this war!"
Fiona shook her head, unable to wrap her head around that mentality. "But...it affects you, doesn't it? You can't just coast through this!"
"What? Why not? You and your mother have? So have thousands of others. That's just how things have been.!" Ugh, he was so not up for a history lesson!
Her mouth snapped shut and she frowned. She hadn't actually thought of that. "But I didn't know how bad it was!" she protested after a moment. "If I'd known, I would've- I-"
She trailed off. She had no idea how to finish that sentence.
"Would have what? Stayed home? Please," Jack rolled his eyes. "You're proving yourself more and more green the further away from your home we go."
Fiona's eyes dropped and she bit her lip, silently fuming, unable to think of a response for that.
Eventually, she grumbled, "I might be less green if you would teach me something useful."
"Yeah? How about just remaining quiet and and.. unobtrusive?"
Her scowl deepened. "How is that useful?"
"I do it and you don't see me dead, do ya? Look, you asked me for survival tips. That's how I survive, okay?" Geeze! He gave a roll of his tensing shoulders and turned away from her. "Come on, we still have to pass through the city before we can see if my home is still even in tact."
Fiona opened her mouth to argue further- then realized he was exactly right and snapped it shut. "Okay," she sighed, rubbing at her temples. "Lead the way."
The city was a mess. One street was blocked off and another too smelly. The sewers must've been neglected, or something like that. Either way, Jack found them heading directly towards the town square....
OOC: And their adventures continue here (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20360.0).