Archives: Failed Storyline: Bastion’s Demons 1
Chapter 2: The Copper Bucket Inn
Cissiria followed Alleria, and now the centaur was scanning the crowd to make sure no one was eying her suspiciously. Most passersby just gawked at her, but no one seemed intent on capturing her again. “In what?” she asked Alleria, unaware of what an ‘inn’ was.
“Sound nice. Hope food and drink good,” Daulag said as he followed, looking to Cissiria when she asked the rather confused question. “Inn place where we sleep, eat, and drink for fee. Many use them. Some nasty and some good.”
Krhea saw that the inn that Alleria was probably talking about was fast approaching, and that they’d be there before she had time to spit out a sentence. “‘Brtrblxpth’? What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the sign.
Tripping suddenly at the unexpected question, Alleria turned to Krhea and smiled. “It’s The Copper Bucket. The owners are nice to newcomers and the food is always good. The other nice thing is if you can’t afford a meal they will always let you work it off rather than cause a ruckus.” She continued walking again while pointing out some of the sights as they walked. Some places were to be avoided and others recommended for quality or price.
Upon arriving at The Copper Bucket, Alleria opened the door and walked inside with the others following her, Cissiria being the last in the line. When the bartender saw her his face brightened with a large smile and he called out; “Hey Al what’s with the crowed yer bringin’ in here!? You got enough money this time to cover everything or should I make up your usual room?” the kindly man yelled with a laugh.
Laughing back at the him she responded, “Sure Rettick. I have enough, so long as they chip in their fair share that is!”
Krhea followed Alleria into the inn but kept her mouth shut. She plopped her butt down on a chair and slipped her hands into her robes. Regardless of how ‘hot’ it was outside for the locals, this was no desert and the cold breeze off the ocean was enough to make her feel uncomfortable.
Following Alleria into the inn, Daulag looked around and took a seat at the table with Krhea. The place was better than the dives he usually inhabited, and the conversation about the money caught his ear. “Daulag pitch in. Give what he can.”
Cissiria looked inside the inn, and without even entering, she already felt claustrophobic. She didn’t feel as if she belonged in there, but if the rest of her companions were going in, then it would be best to join them, wouldn’t it?
Taking a deep breath, the centaur stepped forward and bent to clear the doorway. At least the ceiling inside was high enough for her, but no matter how high it was, four walls was constricting enough to her. All eyes were on her, as seeing a centaur was something very few humans—even Raiden citizens—got to do. The patrons of the inn weren’t exactly comfortable seeing a goblin in their midsts, either.
As the group filed into the main room of the inn and took their places, a silence fell. Here stood an odd combination, a centaur, a goblin, and two humans. Humans were common enough but for them to be traveling with the other two…now this was something to gossip about once more was known.
“Thank you, my little friend, for the offer. It’s good to know I can count on you to help out in a pinch,” Alleria said with a smile tinged with some sadness. This was the same inn she used to go to with her old adventuring group before the betrayal of it’s leader. Rettick was a good man and he spent many a late night trying to comfort the young Alleria after the tragedy, and he always enjoyed having her around to help.
“Why don’t y’all mind yer own business before I give you my boot to think about?” the innkeeper called out to the other patrons while on his way over to the table. “It’s good to see you lass. What brings you here today and who are your…ahem…friends?”
Seeing the uncomfortable atmosphere for the rest of the group Alleria looked up at Rettick and replied, “Well, actually that’s what we are about to find out after a little incident down at the docks.”
Cissiria stood near her companions. One arm was wrapped around herself, rubbing the other anxiously. The building felt suffocating. The floor creaked under her hooves with every movement. She feared that if she made any wrong movement, she might fall through. For the sake of her companions, she didn’t speak up about her discomfort. The innkeeper had already accepted her presence, after all.
Sensing the young centauress’s discomfort, Alleria approached slowly with a warm smile on her face, not wanting to scare Cissiria. Knowing what it was like to be different and gawked at, Alleria decided to do something. She hadn’t done something like this in a very long time, but because she felt a strong kinship with this young woman she wanted to help. Her eyes began to glow very slightly as she began to whisper soothingly to Cissiria, “Everything is alright. You’re safe and among friends who care about you and want to take care of you.” Not sure how her powers of charm and seduction would work on a centaur, it was still worth it if it helped her to calm down and relax somewhat. Inwardly, Alleria prayed no one else would notice what she was doing or any sudden change in Cissiria’s disposition, but Alleria felt she had to try...
Krhea had noticed the slight flash to Alleria’s eyes, after all, Alleria was talking, and while not to her, Krhea knew it was only polite to look at the person who was talking. However, when the flash of Alleria’s eyes came, Krhea’s eyes narrowed. It was now beyond obvious to Krhea that Alleria wasn’t normal, despite the weird aura surrounding her. She decided against revealing what she had witnessed and tried to tune into what the spirits were wanting from her. Keep an eye on the tattooed one. She pretends to be what she is not, the spirits told her.
Krhea made a small face. Cryptic, as always, she grumbled to herself.
Naive and trusting, Cissiria was easily manipulated by the spell. She began to relax as Alleria talked to her, and though she had noticed the glow of her Alleria’s eyes, her new sense of comfort left her unconcerned about it. “Thank you. You are right, Alleria,” Cissiria replied, smiling to her friend.
Seeing Cissiria begin to relax, Alleria decided it was time to figure things out before she decided how to continue the day. Sitting at the table, she called out to Rettick; “How about a round of drinks for everyone and a little something to eat...some fruit and nuts perhaps? Oh and Rettick can you set aside a couple of rooms for us? I have a feeling we may be here for a while.”
Then Alleria turned to the motley group. “So what brings you all here? The majority of us don’t seem to be from the city,” she said with a smile and sense of humor.
“The spirits told me to come here to avoid the massacre on my tribe, I decided I’d follow their advice because I was raised to respect their word as law,” Krhea pointed out immediately. “So I am to the whim of my spiritual masters and allow them to use me as they see fit. They also told me to intervene on miss...Ciss...Ciscera...Cis’s behalf. I figured I’d let the dark spirits have first lick, they tend to be ignored, both in my training as well as my everyday practice. As you can tell by the mire and muck I created, Gnome is also not amongst one of my ’preferred’ elementals. I could have just gone with my staple, Salamander, but I figured setting ablaze the town I’m attempting to stay in would be a bad idea. I have little to no practice with Undine, nor with Flau, although I can’t really say that I’d have much practice with the antithesis of my natural element. And, for the life of me, I have never attempted once to summon a Sylph.” She shrugged. “It’s a respect for my tribe thing.”
Cissiria couldn’t help but feel a little offended as Khrea talked about the spirits. It wasn’t the fact that a human could summon them, but the spirits she chose. Cissiria had never summoned dark spirits, and Salamander was dangerous to surrounding plant-life. She, however, held her tongue and talked about something else, “What is your natural element?”
“Fire,” Krhea responded. “I belong to the Fire tribe of the Storm and Fire desert.”
“Fire nice. Sometimes scary. Daulag know from war. Me serve Marmo till end. Friends dead and left Daulag alone. Now me travel looking for friend and adventure. I see desert once, but stay away from sea of sand,” Daulag piped up, remembering things he had experienced during the war. He had been left alone, but in the end found his niche in the world. Among his new friends he relaxed, though he always kept survival in mind.
The centaur looked back and forth between Krhea and Daulag, unsure of what they were talking about. “I’ve never heard of a ‘desert’ before,” Cissiria said. “Is it empty? I know the word ‘deserted’...”
Krhea was almost overcome with the desire to slap Daulag until he started making sense, but Cissiria’s remark made Krhea come back to her senses in a way. “Well, it is a little barren, which I think may attribute to both the heat and lack of humidity. There is a lot of sand, and thus, sand storms. Water, as well as most plant-life, is very...precious and rare. Ever since I was a little girl I lived in that desert with my clan. It wasn’t a large community, and we traveled around a lot, but we fended for one another. Before that, I lived in Alania with my...” The word mother sounded so unwieldy in the young woman’s mouth. “My father’s woman, his mate, his partner...before she died that is.”
Quickly changing the subject, she backtracked to a previously asked question. “Where are you two from, Cis, and Alleria?”
“Well...I come from...” Alleria began to trail off and then her savior appeared.
“Al hails from this good city,” Rettick said with a smile and a tone of finality. Then he slapped her on the back and began to set the food and drinks down on the table.
“I suppose that’s true enough. I spend my free time here, so The Copper Bucket is as good as home,” she said while lost in some train of thought, almost as if trying to convince herself of the matter.
“Well, I’m from Blue Dragon Island,” Cissiria replied. “It’s just north of Raiden.”
“Ah,” Krhea said. There wasn’t much to respond to. It was obvious to her that Alleria was from somewhere unsavory to talk about, and Krhea was a fish out of water when it came to anything about islands or the like. She picked at the food and sipped at her drink.
“What Blue Dragon Island like? Daulag only know Marmo and parts of Lodoss. New friends interesting. They seem like good people,” Daulag chipped in, looking to Alleria then and asking a simple question. “How much you need from Daulag for for food and drink?”
Cissiria paused for a moment after the goblin asked about her homeland, then proceeded to talk about the group he was with, and then inquire about paying for his portion of the food. He seemed to have the attention span of a hummingbird. She would explain anyway, as possibly Krhea or Alleria were still interested in knowing about her homeland.
“Well, it was the home of Abram, one of the ancient dragons. However, he was slain by humans some time ago. He never bothered my people, and we respected him,” Cissiria started with a tone of disappointment. “Pirates use the island’s caves, but aside from them, there are no humans living there. There is my centaur tribe and a tribe of dark elves living in the island’s forest, the Fairy Woods. These dark elves are not evil, however. My people were apprehensive of them at first, but they came to the island to escape the darkness of Marmo and persecution of humans. We recognize them as only dark of skin, and not of soul, and they are our brethren.”
“Well, that’s nice that there’s no real division between centaurs and dark elves. So how exactly is a centaur born?” Krhea asked innocently. “I mean there’s the horse half, and then there’s the elf half. How did that come to be? What is the origins of your genus? Were you created, like everything, or did you somehow come to this form over generations?” She figured she’d get the hard questions out of the way first, since it was obvious that at least someone other than the goblin who reeked of iron and leather, wanted to talk.
Cissiria took a moment to sort through Krhea’s questions, some of which she didn’t quite understand. In the end, she at least figured out that Krhea wanted to know how her race came to be. “Centaurs were created by Marfa,” Cissiria started. “During the War of the Gods, there was an elven cavalry and they had a deep connection to their horses. Wanting to find a way to deepen the connection, they asked Marfa to find a way to bind together, and this is how she created us,” Cissiria said, sweeping her arms out to present herself. “There are very few centaur tribes, and the elders tell me that our people should avoid contact with humans as much as possible, but I couldn’t stand to limit my entire life to the island!”
“Oh,” Krhea said. “Well that’s interesting. I never learned much about religion or origins. I never really had time to learn that while I was learning to dance, to contact the spirits, and to become the next messenger for my clan.” She made a small face. “I can understand where you’re coming from, however. I had a pretty stifling life within my clan. I was really just confined to a tent in the desert and not allowed to be seen unless it was a ceremonial matter to attend to.”
“Oh, well, it was a part of my studies when I was a child,” Cissiria said with a frown. “I can’t imagine such a horrible, confined existence. Did you run away?”
“Cissiria right. Daulag will not return to Marmo. Much more fun here! More friends,” Daulag spoke after listening with interest. Traveling as he did gained him many pieces of knowledge. “Ceremonial matter? You priestess?”
“By ran away, I’ll assume you mean ‘left without their express permission’, in that case: yes. However, they raised me to listen to the spirits in all instances. Had I remained I probably would have died along with the rest of my clan, or worse, had ended up defiled and abused.” Krhea licked at her lips. The talk about her clan’s demise was leaving a bad taste in her mouth. “And yes, Daulag: I was like a priestess. I conveyed the words of the spirits to my people and foretold weather patterns by reading the spirits shifts in the land, air, and in some extreme cases, the water.”
“What killed your clan?” Cissiria asked softly, her voice taking a sympathetic tone.
“The Wind tribe,” Krhea said frankly. “Our tribes, the Fire tribe and the Wind tribe, have been at war since the times of the ancient kingdom of magic. Both Djinn, the spirit king of air, and Efreet, the spirit king of fire, lived in the desert where I grew up. Because of our closeness to our deity-spirits, we often come into conflict. The Wind tribe believes that the land ancestrally belongs to them, as does my tribe, the Fire tribe.” Krhea sighed. “It’s a long and pointless conflict, but because of it I was forbidden from learning or heeding any of the calls of Sylph.”
This had all been new information to Alleria. Her travels had not taken her to the desert much, nor off the continent. She found it most interesting to hear a story dealing with the creation of the centaur people. “So, from what I have heard you say, Khrea, I was wondering, is it your goal to find another fire tribe to be a guide for? Or are you going to wait for your spirits to guide you to your destiny?” Alleria asked with genuine interest. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the desert more fully some time and it would surely be a lot safer to accompany someone that knows the way better than I do.”
“Hey, Daulag what are your goals? Oh, and each persons share for room and meals is…” Alleria began but was interrupted yet again by Rettick.
“You can stay for free today if y’all would do me a little favor.”
* * *
Ever since he was a child, Bastion had wanted to see his mother’s hometown. Having spent the better part of a week in Raiden, the novelty was wearing a tad thin. This city has no front, no back and very little in the way of sides. You expect a bit of rambling but... the young mage kept up a running commentary in his mind as he made his way down the street. His search for arcane power or knowledge had led him here, and he had turned up much in the way of leads, if no solid facts. Right now, he needed a place to sit, eat a bit, and lay plans. The inn he came to, The Copper Bucket, seemed as good as any. Smoothing his coat, Bastion strolled through the door.
What he saw when he entered nearly sent him back out. Only his good breeding and willpower kept him at an excusable widening of his eyes and sudden intake of breath. So that’s what a centaur looks like, he thought. Bastion had only ever seen them in books. Illustrations were a poor substitute for the real thing, he decided. Along with the rare being were two human women, very different from each other, but equally lovely. Rounding out the group was, of all things, a goblin. Bastion doubted if the stubby creature had sense enough to appreciate his position.
The odd troop seemed to be talking with the innkeep. Not wishing to interrupt, Bastion chose a seat where he could see, and be seen if anyone was interested, and waited. His plans still swirled in his head, but most of his mind was now occupied with the strange scene before him.
* * *
Krhea looked up at the innkeeper with a scrutinizing eye. Is this common place outside the desert, to exchange food and lodgings for a favor? Deep in the pit of her stomach she didn’t like the feeling she was getting from this sudden request, however, the spirits were silent on this matter. They wished for her to gain experience in the world, and this was as good as it was probably going to get. She would abide by Cissiria’s decision, unless the spirits said otherwise. “My involvement hinges on Cissiria’s judgment. The spirits brought me to her for a reason, and lest they speak up I’ll assume they want me to follow her lead,” she stated.
Khrea’s answer confirmed what Daulag thought. She was a very interesting and good companion to be traveling with. Upon hearing Alleria’s reply, Daulag thought for a second, his only real goals were very simple. “Goals are see Lodoss. Help those Daulag chooses to travel with. Those who accept Daulag help. What is this favor?” He would end up doing the favor most likely, but first he wanted to know what he was saying yes to.
Cissiria was surprised by the sudden focus on her decision. Looking to Rettick, she gave her answer, stammering slightly, “I...alright... Umm...Yes, what is the favor?”
“Well, as of late the slavers here in the city have been over stepping their boundaries and have even started kidnapping local people. No one of great importance which is why there hasn’t been a lot done about the problem, but yesterday ol’ man Gerne’s granddaughter was taken,” Rettick said as he let out a sigh.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? I would have done anything to help and you know that!” Alleria stood up and slapped the table in anger at having not noticed how things had gotten so bad.
“I know you would have lass but you can’t do it on your own, that’s why I didn’t bring it up to ya sooner. But then today I heard about what happened on the docks shortly before you arrived here and thought maybe with the help of this fine group here you could make a difference.” He hung his head to think a second before continuing.
“A day or two of free lodging here should be able to help y’all out and if you can save the little girl and other people it would sure make a lot of people happy. Maybe even earn you a reward from grateful families that are too scared to try things on their own. I’m sure we could even find something to work for your young centauress friend here. What do you say?”
Biting her lip in concern, Alleria held her tongue in anticipation knowing she couldn’t make up their minds for them. All the while hoping they were good people and would help.
“I would be willing to help,” Cissiria said. The centauress didn’t have to think long on the opportunity. A child needed help, and she wasn’t going to walk away from it.
Krhea nodded, but kept her mouth shut. It seems your decision about following Cissiria will bring me to adventure. That is why I trust your voices so completely, she stated silently to the spirits.
Hearing this, Daulag looked up and nodded, he was willing to help out here and find this girl. “Daulag help. No like this.” He was certain he would be of use, and welcomed this chance to assist someone in need.
Bastion smiled. They’d all offered to help, even the goblin. It was good to see such altruism. The innkeeper’s story had touched him, but Bastion had no desire to confront slavers on his own. Now he had backup, and no excuse not to help.
Standing, Bastion crossed over to the groups table and stood beside the innkeep. “Excuse me, one and all,” he said, making a slight bow. “I overheard your conversation. Slavery is a blight on our island, and I would be proud to aid in rescuing these victims. I offer my assistance.”
* * *
Edric stopped to catch his breath, heaving air in and out heavily, bent over holding his knees. He had managed to escape the thugs for the third time in a single day. They need to get their priorities straight! he thought. There were far worse things going on in this city compared to what he was doing. Sure, he’d done a bit of thieving and some conning here and there, but he never stole or conned anyone who didn’t deserve it. As far as he was concerned, he was doing them a favor, teaching them to keep better track of their belongings.
Trudging down a bustling side street in Raiden, he continued trying to regain his breath, gathering his scattered thoughts. Taking a better look at his surroundings, he concluded that it was best to hide somewhere for a while until everything calmed down and the thugs found something better to do than chase someone less than half their height and twice their running speed. But where? He’d been to just about every inn, shop, and establishment in the city at least once; he just had to remember which ones were friendly and which ones were out to get him. His eyes wandered from sign to sign, but nothing seemed good, until he came across an inn.
“‘The Copper Bucket’, huh?” he spoke under his breath. The name didn’t ring a bell. Was he on good terms with the owners? Or were they out for his blood? Or had they ever even seen him before? “I guess it’s worth a shot. Better to face them than those thugs.” With that, Edric tucked his ears under his locks of blonde hair, hoping that if they didn’t know him, then the owner might think he’s a child and take pity on him.
Edric took a deep breath, straightened out his vest, and reached for the door. He had to hop just a little to reach the knob, but he had become accustom to this. He turned around to close the door behind him, and when he turned once more, what he saw before him was nothing he had ever anticipated. “AAAAAHH! OH NO!” he shrieked and fell back against the door, holding his hands over his head.
A centaur and a goblin? At an inn in Raiden!? How awful could his luck get? It would have been far better to be chased by thugs for the rest of his life than run into this. He stayed crouched against the door, waiting for doom to come looming over him.
At the sudden outcry coming from near the door, Krhea forgot about responding to Bastion. The spirit messenger shot the creature an icy glare, but rebuked the glare after seeing that it was seemingly an elven child. Krhea guessed it was Daulag that the child was staring at with horror in his eyes, and fair enough. Goblins weren’t exactly the most amicable races on Lodoss, and most of them were as evil as they could be. Torn between wanting to go over and see to the young elf and staying put, Krhea reached over and probed Cissiria’s arm gently. “Why is an elven child in this place?” she asked the centauress.
Cissiria’s attention was scattered by the young man, the scream, then Khrea. “Umm...” the centaur intoned while organizing her thoughts. “Khrea, perhaps you should speak to the child. He could be lost, and you are the most normal of us,” she suggested softly to her shaman friend, then turned her attention back to Bastion. “I would be grateful of more help,” she said to the young mage.
Edric’s’ entrance startled Daulag. The goblin looking at the elven child just before Krhea walked over. He was curious as to what was going on, but said nothing as it was already being handled. Instead he watched, and waited for the boy to calm down.
Krhea nodded and removed herself from her seat, drawing close to the startled child she placed her hand delicately on his blond head. “What’s wrong?” The silver-haired shamaness asked, stroking his hair to try and calm him a little. “Are you lost, little boy?”
Edric looked back up at the group of misfit adventurers. He was quite startled to see that he was still alive. Immediately he was embarrassed at his behavior and rose to his feet, brushing the shamaness’ hand off of his head. “Uh-hum,” he stammered, “Err, sorry. No, I’m not lost, just surprised.”
Edric resented being called a child, but didn’t say anything, since he didn’t seem to be in a position to correct anyone. He looked beyond the woman and back at the two with wonder, still a bit fearful. He drew closer just a step or two, approaching with extreme caution.
Bastion was slightly resentful of the newcomer for stealing the attention of the room, but recanted when he saw it was just a child. Little fellow’s lost his parents somewhere, I suppose. He seems to be in good hands though, the mage thought. Turning back to the centaur, Bastion bowed again, lower this time. “Bastion Ulbrecht, Milady, at your service,” he said, smiling his most charming smile.
“Uh, sorry about that. Don’t see many of you around here.” Edric was still hesitant though, half expecting one of them to lose their temper and lunge at him. Edric glanced right into the goblin’s face, shocked to see that there was no anger in his eyes. Before breaking his gazed, he tried forcing a smile for the sake of making it clear that he understood the situation. He glanced at the man now as he spoke, “Excuse me, am I interrupting something?” He bowed his head slightly as he spoke.
“Well...a little,” Cissiria said reluctantly to the shorter child. He had interrupted them right as Cissiria was going to introduce herself to Bastion. The centauress’s eyes drifted between the two, trying to decide which to talk to, then finally settled on Edric. “Do you need help?” she asked him.
Looking to Edric, Daulag laughed as if he was surprised the boy would be so bold. He seemed rather interesting to the goblin. “Me Daulag. Goblin adventurer. What your name?” Looking to Cissiria, he was rather curious as to why a child was wandering alone.
Edric stared down at his feet, both a little upset and embarrassed. He hated being talked down to, but decided to play along and put up with it for now; or at least as long as he could bottle up his emotions. “Uh, no ma’am. At least not now...” His mind drifted off for a moment as he remembered the thugs he had been running from. He decided from there on to continue lying, until given reason otherwise to inform them that he was actually a grassrunner.
He looked a bit startled at being spoken to and bowed deeply toward the goblin. “H-hello! Nice to meet you.” He rose again, his face was a bit flushed. “I’m Edric. I’m a—” He was about to mention him being a merchant, but thought better of this, since they all thought he was a child. I better think up a lie, he thought, and I better think one quick! “I just live in town here...My...friends and I—We were just playing a game, and I got lost.” He only hoped this would work and that further questions would not ensue. “Anyway, I’m sorry for interrupting your conversation. Please continue. I promise I won’t get in the way!” He knew it had nothing to do with him, but he was somewhat curious, as all the others seemed to be discussing a quite serious matter. Perhaps it couldn’t hurt to listen; especially if it could buy him some time.
“All...alright then,” Cissiria said, tearing her eyes away from who she perceived to be a child, and returned her attention to Bastion. She really had to answer him, after all. “My name is Cissiria, and my friends are Alleria, Daulag, and Krhea,” she said, pointing out each of her companions.
Bastion had begun to fidget while the centaur and the child talked to each other, but he gathered himself swiftly as he was spoken to again. “Well, it is my very good honor to meet you all,” he said, making more small bows to everyone at the table. ”So where are these reprobate slavers located?” he asked, turning to the innkeep.
Krhea too, turned her attention from Edric to Bastion as he asked the innkeeper where the slavers were approximately hidden. The silver-haired shamaness’s hips were beginning to ache being in the cold climate of Raiden. The sooner they dealt with these slavers the sooner the young spirit messenger could curl up with a warm pillow and sleep away the aches.
Edric fell silent as the mage spoke up. His brow furrowed as he listened to the exchange of words between the two. He’d heard about slavers in Raiden, and did his best to avoid them, but why did they want to know where they are? Who would be dumb enough to stick their noses in business like that? Whether it’s rebelling or working for the matter, Edric concluded that it was an ugly business to be involved in, no matter which side you’re on. Glancing around the table and back at the mage with wide eyes, he continued wondering why they would want to find slavers, but decided it was best to hold his tongue and continue to listen.
The feeling of nervousness was always there when people Alleria didn’t know at all got involved, flash backs of her mentor being killed by a supposed friend came back to her mind. Sensing its mistress’s distress Twilights Redemption resonated slightly in its sheath.
Rettick blushed a bit and stammered, “I don’t rightly know where…”
Having kept her silence through the barrage of introductions and confusion of the last few minutes Alleria decided to finally speak up, “To answer your question as to where to look, I guess a good location to start would be the docks. That’s where we ran into trouble in the first place, I’m sure we could find something out down there.” She thought for a moment. “Unless someone would have a better suggestion perhaps? Besides if they are moving their slaves via ship at all we may get lucky and find Gerne’s granddaughter then.”
“Ah,” Bastion nodded to the other woman. “So you’ve all run into trouble already? Were the thugs looking to take any captives? If so, I’d say that’s our best bet.”
Edric began to understand the situation as the conversation unfolded. So, they’re gonna try to get someone out, huh? he thought for a moment. It was quite righteous of them, and they had the right idea, but it just wasn’t in his best interest to put himself in that kind of danger. However, he couldn’t help but feel the urge to help somehow. Perhaps... he pondered, staying with these people might not get me hurt after all. I’m in enough trouble as it is, and these guys look strong enough to protect me if they think I’m an ally.
“Uh, yeah,” Edric chimed in, nodding his head in agreement to the proposal, “I’ve seen plenty of suspicious looking people pass in and out of the docks. If there’s any trouble, or someone you’re looking for, I just know you can find it there! I’ve been there plenty of times, I bet I could show you—” He stopped himself, broken by his own thoughts. As he spoke, he had suddenly remembered they thought he was a child. They would never take me along! What am I thinking? Besides, I’m sure I’ll only get in their way...What do I do now? “Er, nothing.” He averted his eyes for a moment, but somehow they lingered back to look up at the mage. “Go on.”
Bastion watched the child intently. There was something very strange about this youngster. It might have just been precociousness, but something inside told the mage it was more then that, though he couldn’t decide what exactly.
Bastion shook himself, suddenly aware that he’d been staring hard at the boy. “No, please continue,” he said with a encouraging smile. “If you think you know where these slavers hide, we’d like to hear it.” The mage glanced around the table for conformation of his words.
Edric was caught a little off guard by the mage. He had not anticipated any of them to take him seriously. Despite himself, Edric continued, looking up at the mage with wide eyes, a bit hesitant as he spoke, “Well, in that case—” He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and recall exactly what to say, “I’ve seen certain people before, sometimes they’re not always the same, but there plenty of suspicious people I’ve seen coming in and out of the docks doing some shady business. They don’t always go to the exact same place, or at least they don’t always take the same route, but I’d certainly recognize ’em if we happen to find ’em. I can point one out to you at the docks, if you want.” Edric then stopped himself, waiting to see if his words were sufficient enough to be taken in and considered. He panned the group with a glance, returning his gaze to the mage once again.
“Thank you, young man,” Bastion said, eyes far away as he thought. Obviously any large city had its share of undesirables, and Raiden likely had more then most. Still... “Could any of you recall the faces of the trouble you ran into if you saw them again?” the mage asked his table mates.
Cissiria recalled her memory of her attempted capture, trying to remember any faces. “Maybe...” the centauress said. “But sometimes I have a hard time telling humans apart...no offense...” She blushed and looked down to the floor. As she turned her attention away from people, she began to feel her claustrophobia coming back. This room was oppressive and it made her skin crawl with anxiety, so she was looking forward to getting this search underway as soon as possible.
Bastion smiled at Cissiria. “No offense taken, Milady. I personally don’t blame you if humans run together in your mind. There certainly are enough of us.” The mage cocked his head at the centaur. She seemed uncomfortable. “Are you unwell, Milady? You look a little peaked.”
Cissiria gave a meek smile. “Enclosed spaces are not ideal for my kind,” she replied to Bastion. “I suppose I just cannot tolerate it much longer.”
“Ah, of course. Silly of me not to know that, Milady. My knowledge of your people is sadly lacking, but I do know that you are children of the natural world. Well then!” Bastion stood up from the table and rubbed his hands. “I think we have a plan. As soon as everyone’s ready, let us make for the docks!”
“Yes, let’s,” Cissiria replied, her smile turning from awkward to eager. It was curious though, she felt just fine a moment ago, but the claustrophobia had just begun creeping back. It all felt better when... When Alleria had assured her she was safe. There was something odd about that, now that she thought back on it.
“Uh—yeah!” Edric nodded in reply to Bastion’s proposal. He had become preoccupied in examining the centauress. To see one in the flesh for the first time was a bizarre sight in itself, but her behavior had begun to absorb his interest and intrigue him even more. He didn’t know anything about them in the first place, but Edric had to agree with the mage, which made him realize just how little he knew about the world beyond his tribe and the world of men. Even now, he was still in the process of understanding humans. He had felt threatened by Cissiria’s presence only moments ago, but somehow Edric had acclimated to the occasion and slowly became more comfortable with it. Even the goblin seemed a little less frightening, even after the few minutes he had spent in the company of these new people. As he watched Cissiria now, he felt a very slight change in him; A change that would begin to spark and flicker with a dim, delicate flame, even if he wasn’t quite aware of it yet.
As the group began to stand up, Alleria regained her composure and realized that her slight concentration had wavered. Cissiria was back to feeling the enclosure pressing in on her again. She moved back over to the centauress, putting her arm around her waist, she decided with this many people around it would be better to be more subtle.
“Looks like this may be a bit grander of a rescue than we first thought?” Alleria said to her while weaving a slight bit of magic into her voice making it more melodic. It was a voice she had used to make men’s hearts melt in the past but she had no idea how it would work on Cissiria. Afterwards, Alleria was surprised at her own actions. Why do I feel so drawn to this young girl and why do I actually feel comfortable around this group that I hardly know?
“I do have one question for you though, my little friend. You seem quite articulate for one so young, perhaps you could tell us a little about yourself while we walk to the docks?” she said with a disarming smile hoping she wouldn’t come across as nosey.
Bastion watched Alleria give Cissiria a supporting arm with a smile on his face. The mage was about to comment on his luck at encountering such a clearly closely knit group when a tingle ran across the back of his neck. He flinched and glanced around, but no one was close behind him. With a shrug, Bastion turned his attention back to his group. I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds this boy strange, he thought as he waited for the child to respond.
“Oh! Ah...” Edric was torn and panicking inside now, though he did his best not to let it show. He was between a rock and a hard place; at this point, telling the truth that he wasn’t a child would simply compromise their trust in him. But on the other hand, if he went on telling them he was a child and they found out later on, they would be even more distrusting of him. What a miserable moment to be alive! he thought. Even if he did tell the truth now, what if any of them had heard of his doings in the city? There were not many people who hated him, or at least that he knew of, but those who did were quite bent on his destruction. After much inner conflict, with a heavy heart he decided his best option was to tell the truth and take the consequences before any other trouble begins.
“You see, I—” he took a deep breath and continued, “I haven’t been entirely truthful with you all. I’m not really what you think I am. I’m—” Edric choked up. He couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. Even though he wanted so much to speak the truth, his lips just couldn’t help but speak lies. Something in him had agreed to continue lying, and there didn’t seem to be much he could do about it now. He decided to tell a lie; an extravagant lie. He only prayed his lies would shield him the way they always have.
Edric reached up and brushed his loose hair back, exposing his small, but quite visible pointed ears. “I’m a half-elf. My mother died and my father is a merchant. I lost him when we came here to Raiden for a business trip some time ago. I don’t know, but I think he might be dead. He does trades with shady people sometimes, but I don’t wanna leave the city in case he might be alive and looking for me, so I’ve been living here alone waiting for him.”
Edric immediately felt awful; stupid and embarrassed that he had even thought to say such a thing, but a part of him was relieved; He didn’t like to lie all the time, but it didn’t seem quite as bad, since half of what he said was true. I’m just...bending the truth a little—that’s all! he told himself, but deep down, he knew it was a blatant lie, and a dreadful thing to be deceiving these nice people like this, but the coward in him needed some false facade to hide behind.
“Daulag ready to go.” Daulag made sure all was in place as she gulped down the last of his drink. The goblin was ready to save this girl, and the fact remained he got a warm fuzzy feeling from helping people like this.
As Alleria put her arm around her and spoke, Cissiria began to feel her claustrophobia fade away again. Perhaps it was just the support of a good friend; every attempt by Alleria to comfort her just seemed to make her feel better over all. “Maybe we can help you too,” she said to Edric with a small smile. She consciously gave the small child wide berth, as she knew that he could be easily stepped on by her, but there was no anxiety about it. Which was odd, as she had always been anxious of trampling the dark elven children she had been around.
Krhea followed behind mutely. The ‘half-elf’ excuse she didn’t buy but she couldn’t articulate an excuse of why not, and Alleria’s ability to calm Cissiria with a look, a touch or a bunch of soft spoken words made the robed spirit messenger shudder at the thought that there was something less than normal about Alleria. Again, the words to place to the feeling of wrongness just didn’t come to the mind or tongue, so she held it in. If no one else noticed, perhaps it was a small tinge of female rivalry she felt. Something that should be just forgotten about. At a later interval she’d make her inquiry to the rest of the party. “Shall we?” Krhea voiced in a half-sigh.
“Yes, we shall,” Bastion said, the spooked feeling disappearing in the face of action. Nerves. Had to be. Not that surprising really, given my circumstances, the mage thought. “And you, young man,” Bastion continued, reaching down to lay a hand on Edric’s shoulder. “Keep a stiff upper lip. I’m sure your father is alive. We may even find him on our search.”
“Thank you. All of you. I’ll try and do my best,” Edric replied meekly as he forced a smile, looking back up at the man towering over him. Bastion’s words seemed so sincere that he almost broke down from the guilt and felt like telling the truth. He knew it was too late to turn back from his decision now, but it didn’t stop Edric from feeling awful.
“I suppose,” he went on, moving away from the subject as quickly as he could change it, “I’m ready to go whenever you are.” He exchanged glances with the party of misfit adventurers. Edric bowed his head a bit when he turned back to the mage and continued, “I sure hope I can help.”
Who to trust and who not to trust were things to be considered, but at this time Alleria didn’t want to jeopardize her new friendships, so she would keep her thoughts to herself. Besides, she wanted to make some friends, it had been years since she had last had a friend, except for people like Rettick. “Does anyone need any supplies before we head out? I don’t expect this to take too long but the unexpected has happened to me before that’s extended things far longer than they should have taken,” she asked curiously.
“I think we all have everything we need,” Cissiria replied to Alleria. “We all came in here with our traveling gear, right?” The centauress stepped back onto the street, and though she was still under Alleria’s spell, she did feel as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders when she was out in the open again. “So, umm...someone should lead the way to the slave market,” Cissiria said, a touch of disgust in her voice as she said ‘slave market’. Suddenly, her eyes lit up with an idea. “Hey! Since they tried to kidnap me, maybe you should pretend you are slave traders as well, and that you did succeed in catching me. That might make it easier to get me into the slave market without someone else trying to catch me. You are a mage, you can say you subdued me with a spell,” she said to Bastion.
Alleria frowned thinking rapidly before speaking up. “Well, your idea isn’t bad but we would be pretty obvious due to the way we were talking before the fight broke out. I have a bit of a different idea depending on yours and Khrea’s willingness to participate.”
Looking at everyone in the group Alleria formed her next words very carefully. “In my travels I have learned some tricks of magic to change my appearance and voice and such. Several of our new group wasn’t at the incident so we could say that the later half of the group captured the two of you and are bringing you down to be sold. If anyone asks why the goblin helped there but is now selling you we can say he was working for us to lure you two back to our hideout.
“This way we can possibly find out where the market is and free more than just the grand child if possible,” she said with a determined and vengeful voice, hating slavery after having suffered it for so long. As she said this last part, her form began to shift and change into that of another woman. Her hair grew shorter and turned a bright red, the exotic tattoos that covered her body changed from their regular pattern and shifted locations. The usually melodic voice that Alleria had changed to a bit deeper one with a slight sailor accent. “The only thing left if you wanted to follow through with this plan would be to obtain some manacles, collars, and leads,” she said with a sly smile.
Bastion had drawn himself up proudly and was about to answer Cissiria when Alleria interrupted him before he even spoke. The mage’s face changed from sheepish annoyance to interest as the woman explained her plan. A magical disguise? This could be fascinating to watch.
Bastion gaped as Alleria underwent her change. He’d never seen such a swift, smooth transformation before, but more worrisome, the feeling was back, crawling along his neck and shoulders. Confused and slightly frightened, the mage could think of nothing intelligent to say.
Edric followed Cissiria onto the street tentatively, careful not to walk in anyones way. His eyes lit up as Alleria underwent her incredible transformation. “Oh wow!” he exclaimed as his face brightened with child-like wonder and amazement. He proceeded to clap for her with a wide grin on his face, as though he were watching some great magician or street performer. Moments later he became aware of himself again and reverted to a previous state of shyness, embarrassed at himself for getting so excited.
“Well, I think this is the right time of day,” Edric broke in. “There should be a few down there, even if a lot of them do their work at night. Some of them have probably seen me with my dad before,” he continued flawlessly, preaching his lie without skipping a beat, as if it were really true, “so they won’t question seeing me around the docks. I can tell them that you’re looking to sell and that you needed someone to show where to find the market.” He jogged a little as he spoke, working his way near the head of the group. “I can show you the way, if you’ll follow me.” Edric paused as he awaited approval to continue.
Cissiria looked on Alleria’s transformation with awe. As Edric began to hurry along, Cissiria lingered for a moment, pondering if Alleria’s spell could help her. She had already had a harsh introduction to the treatment of centaurs on the mainland, but if she could pass for merely an elf, things would be much easier. The centaur turned to follow Edric slowly, and as they started to depart, she spoke to Alleria; “Could... could you possibly cast that on me? Maybe not now, but later, when we’re traveling?” she asked.
Alleria frowned as Cissiria asked her about casting the spell on her. “I can, but only if it’s something you truly want at the time. It’s not something you should take lightly either because being true to yourself is one of the most important things in this world. I want you to think on it for now and also I will need you to think of exactly how you will want to look at that time. It will help guide the magic better.”
Thinking for a second as she walked behind everyone with the centauress, she then smiled. “It may cost you…a kiss I think. Magic isn’t free you know,” she said with mischief in her eyes. Having red hair always has made me less inhibited, she thought with personal musings.
Krhea’s eyes narrowed at Alleria’s transformation. Everything within her being screamed that this was unnatural magic, unwholesome to think of. Krhea concealed her discomfort with a small shudder. Getting closer to the waterfront was dropping the temperature beyond her normal threshold for lower temperatures. “I’ll follow the lead of those who have ideas,” Krhea said openly. “So, which side am I on? The one with chains or the one without?”
Alleria turned at Krhea’s statement. “You, my dear, would be one with chains on along with Cissiria. Speaking of chains, we had best get some quick before we get too close to the docks and our disguise is spoiled.”
Cissiria was dumbfounded for a moment, but a blush soon came to her cheeks. She was somewhat confused though...why would Alleria want a kiss from her?
