Selune
“Oh…ok then” Selune replied, feeling just a little put out by Illrea’s refusal of her offer and although he did look genuinely worn out, it was the first time that she’d ever made such an offer to someone, in fact come to think of it, it was the first time that someone had refused her, oh sure there had been curt dismissals but no one had ever said no thank you or waited for her to ask. Maybe…maybe my punishment really is over? Selune thought to herself as she sat beside Illrea in the boat, with him seemingly more engaged with Elijah and Kaella than her; with Ariel’s final words to her returning unbidden to her mind I’m going to make you regret being born so pretty! And she had. Selune had even held a knife to her face once only to lose her nerve over what they would do to her if she carried out the act, or even worse what they would do to someone else; better to suffer in silence than have someone else’s blood on your hands.
As Illrea stared miserably down at the bloodstained sword in his lap Selune slipped her arm about him, finding herself at a loss as to what to say. She’d never had a boyfriend before or even a real friend for that matter, or at least not since she’d been plucked from the burning ruins of Pentref by the father that would later abandon her to her fate.
The other slaves had despised her, seeing her as some pampered pet that did nothing more than dress up and look pretty for their master. The other slaves, the working slaves all had their hair shorn almost to the scalp and were lucky if they were permitted to bathe and wash their clothes in cold water once a week where as Selune meanwhile was made to bathe on a daily basis with them washing her long hair with scented oils as she sat in the warm water with others doing her laundry for her so as not to roughen her skin. It didn’t matter to them that she had no say in the matter and that it all came with a price; that she’d have gladly traded it all to simply scrub floors with her head shaved like the rest of them. But no matter how hard she tried they wouldn’t hear of it and so she had had to endure at least three very lonely years on her own.
With her social skills severely lacking as a result of her previously solitary existence, Selune hoped that the simple act of being close to Illrea would suffice, with her quietly sitting beside him as the boat crossed the bay and headed back towards the cave that the Sentinels called home.
Home at Last
It hadn’t taken long for news of their return to filter its way through the caves; prompting a delegation to meet them on the beach with a distraught Marie throwing her arms about a bloodstained Kaella as she staggered out of the rowboat “No I will not stop fussing! Look at you, you can’t even speak!” the blonde replied to the near silent whispering that came from Kaella throat “I don’t care whether the others see, If you don’t want to get embarrassed in front of your men then you shouldn’t have taken such foolish risks in order to put yourself in such a state! And don’t you dare try and tell me that you didn’t because they will tell me” Marie finished sternly.
Seeming to realise that it was useless trying to talk, Kaella started to use a complex series of hand motions with which to communicate with the other girl, prompting her to blush “and I love you too…now lets get you to bed, and no arguments this lot can fend for themselves whilst you recover” she said brushing aside a lock of dark hair from Kaella’s bloodstained brow, with Kaella seeming to accept the other woman’s judgement without any further resistance.
Watching all this Selune found it hard to believe that the same woman that had led a charge was now being brow beaten into submission by her girlfriend; the pair of them now walking arm in arm towards the cave with Marie giggling at whatever it was that Kaella had just signed.
Ymira
The tears had stopped some time during the night, the dark haired girl seemingly no longer able to cry as she’d simply lain awake at night; staring up at the ceiling above her.
Garrus was gone and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it, and as much as it pained her to admit it she had to move on. At least soon she would be able to return to her brother, just as soon as Galen returned from his mission with the other Sentinels. And although she didn’t relish a long journey with the quiet, brooding thief she would at least be able to look forward to seeing Cesare once again.
Upon learning that the others had returned she had reluctantly followed the crowd of people out onto the beach in the hope of speaking to Galen about her brother and when they would be leaving to meet him. However it hadn’t taken her long to realise that the man who had promised to take her home to her brother was not amongst those who had returned “Where is Galen? Is he…” she asked of the blue haired man who had helped rescue her, with the look in his eyes alone telling her of the masked thief’s fate. It was at this point that she noticed the young man being lifted from out of the boat by two of the Sentinel’s, his face pale and ashen as a result of his wound “What happened to him!?” she exclaims, rushing up to the injured boy, horrified that someone so young was so near to death’s door “Quickly get him into the cave, time is of the essence if I am going to save him” she said in a voice that was far more confident that it had been in a long while with the Sentinel’s instinctively obeying her commands as they carried Elijah back towards the cave so that the young Ascenti woman could try and save his life.
Lamadon
The group had waited patiently for Ben to return from his call of nature, putting it down to him having a little too much wine with his meal and nothing more.
Once he had returned they made their way to a different though equally rickety set of docks on the other side of town in order to secure passage to the main island where Stiorra’s arm was supposed to be camped, though considering how things had gone so far it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to learn that that was incorrect too.
Despite Guido’s silver tongue the price of passage to the main island upon one of the small sail boats was still rather steep, no doubt as a result of their chosen profession along with the fact that they were foreigners with only a basic understanding of the local dialect, stripping the group of most of their remaining coin as a result.
It was as they were being ferried across the narrow strip of water separating the two islands that they were greeted by the pair of stone warriors carved into the cliffs either side of the port, the sheer scale alone causing them to wonder how long and how much it had cost to carve such edifices into the very cliffs. The silent guardian’s seemingly challenging anyone to dare attack whilst they were still standing.
The buildings within the port and indeed the rest of the town were pretty much like those upon the other island although possibly a little more crammed together in order to accommodate the extra people living and working upon the island. The narrow winding streets filled with people living their lives seemingly oblivious of the troubles on the mainland.
Spotting the group of brightly coloured soldiers and officers loitering outside of a barracks with their long and rather unusual two handed weapons hanging across their backs, Guido leads the group over to them; fixing them with a winning smile as he spoke to them; unsure as to which of them was in charge “greetings my kind sirs, we are here to sign on with Stiorra’s army…perhaps you can tell us where she could be found?” Guido asked, only to receive a curt reply from a white clad officer who rather haughtily addressed the group with a sneer “The lady Stiorra doesn’t associate with sellsword scum such as yourselves, if you wish to sign on speak to Skorj, he deals with your kind” the officer said with evident distaste for those within the mercenary trade. His comment greeted with snide laughter from the men gathered around him “Yeah and why don’t I show you what sellsword scum can…”
“Now, now Arcturus the mistake is ours…there is no need for us to do anything rash” Guido said seizing the large bearded warrior’s wrist before it could draw the axe on his belt. They were outnumbered and ill prepared for a fight where even if they won they would be killed; hanged as murderers assuming of course that they weren’t simply lynched on the streets.
With the smaller Lysian man flashing the officer an apologetic grin he smoothly continued to speak hoping to undo whatever damage had been done and get the hell out of here before things could be made any worse “Forgive my friend, it has been a very long journey and all we wish to do is sign up before bedding down for the night…now I don’t suppose I could trouble you for the whereabouts for this…Skorj, was it?”
The officer, despite Arcturus’s continued grumblings reluctantly gave them directions to where the rest of Stiorra’s host was being assembled on the other side of the island where after a long walk they came within sight of what had to be if not the largest campsite they had ever seen then at least the most spread out.
With very little in the way of flat ground the camp was scattered across several plateaus and fields with the camp seeming to form a city in its own right complete with traders and taverns plying their trade in amongst the tents. It was also became apparent rather rapidly that the brightly clad soldiers that had patrolled the streets were no longer present instead replaced by foreign mercenaries in their dull but serviceable mail and leather.
It was one such man; his right arm covered in gold and silver arm rings denoting him to be of some authority, that approached them with his hand moving to the axe hanging from his belt “Can I help you folk?” he asked cautiously, uncertain as to whether or not they were here to cause trouble.
It was as all this was taking place, and indeed throughout the entire trip from the docks that Lilith continued to fawn over Drake with her suggestions and comments becoming less subtle by the minute as her intended target continued to play hard to get causing Arcturus to almost continually glare and growl at the woman. Though he may as well have tried holding back the tide with his bare hands for all the good it did with Lilith seemingly oblivious to it all.
