1st of Searing 4621
On the circular floor of that slow climbing Elevator, Izzy had withdrawn to sit. She breathed hard, then laid on her back to further open her lungs. Deep breaths lifted her chest as quickly as they left her, mouth agape beneath her one closed eye while she steadily recovered.
Arkash still stared in silence as the lift gradually ascended, brass gears whirring beyond the crank of metal as the teeth bit the empty spaces in their slow climb.
Steadily, he lowered his gun, then exhaled deeply. “…How did this happen?” He quizzed immediately as his deep red eye turned on the girl.
“I don’t… I dunno…” She answered, breathless.
“Did you go there? Did you go to the silk wall?” Accusation weighed in his tone, the force of his voice that bared its anger.
“No,” she answered. “I didn’t, I didn’t do nuffin’,” she answered, and rolled her head side to side on the stone floor.
Arkash’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t head down there looking for Relics?” He opened the revolving chamber of his gun and pushed the used shell from the chamber before he stuffed another into the loading passage, then snapped it shut with a flick of his wrist.
Fayeth’s red eyes watched the discarded shell as it bounced on the engraved flooring, then lifted again to her progeny and his companion. “This is the Badlander you told me of?” Asked the Cardinal in an attempt to break the tension of the air. “The Sunderer, correct? Izzy?”
Arkash looked to the Sil’norai, then nodded gently. “Izzy, this is Fayeth, Fayeth, Izzy. Fayeth is the one that made me a Dranoch some… Six seasons ago.”
“A pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard good things,” Fayeth spoke with a courteous bow and sheathed her crooked blades at each hip.
“For real?” She asked, turning her head to lay while she looked at the Cardinal. “I’d say Ark’s bullshitting- but I’ve been pretty good so far.”
The young Rathor grinned. “Up until now, anyway.”
Fayeth nodded, arms crossed across her front as the elevator came to a stop at the top of the track. “Yes, that beast is something of a problem it would seem,” she spoke casually, no venom or any sort of accusation to direct her ire. “What happened, Izzy? How did that thing escape this… Silk wall you two keep mentioning?”
Arkash cleared his throat as he moved to take a knee at the bag he’d left at the edge of the circle, the rush of wind beyond the stone door was audible in the chamber within which they hid. “I found this gun here,” Arkash began to explain as he lifted it to point the barrel at the ceiling, then clicked the safety before he set it down on the floor beside his belongings. “It was right outside this doorway that was woven shut with spider silk, the entire hall up to that point had been completely covered with webbing; really sticky stuff. Took a second to pry the case open but… Anyway,” he continued as he sifted through the bag.
“He heard something movin’ around past the door, didn’t know what it was but thought it was bad news,” Izzy said as she sat up, and wiped a sweat from her brow.
“I see…” Fayeth spoke as she lowered to sit on her ankles, propped on her toes from where she crouched. “So we think this is the thing that was hiding in the bowels of this… Derelict you discovered?”
Both Arkash and Izzy nodded in tandem, eyes locked on the Cardinal. She hummed thoughtfully, then turned a little to commit to sitting on the dusty floor, knees held close to her chest. “Makes you wonder what this place really is… Or what t used to be.”
The Rath nodded. “That thing’s a Strigoi, no doubt about it,” he said as he collected a full waterskin from the contents of his satchel, then briefly offered it to Izzy. When she lifted her hands to receive it, he tossed it to her and landed the container in her hands.
“Thanks,” She said as she popped the cap on the thing and paused. “…What’s a Stigo?”
“Strigoi,” Fayeth corrected. “A type of undead created through Necromancy, usually very powerful necromancy.”
Arkash nodded with a glance to Fayeth; that was right, she knew her stuff when it came to the world at large. A glance at Izzy saw her with the water skin clutched with both hands, head knocked back to drink the contents without pause. “It looks like it’s really well made too; your swords couldn’t break its shell,” he said with a nod in Fayeth’s direction.
“Right… I did see, Arkash.”
“Yeah,” he spoke with a moment of reflection and nodded. “Right, sorry.”
The woman merely grinned and shook her head. “Evidence of Necromancy, Artificing, and Sundering,” Fayeth continued to think aloud. “This might have been a den for some sort of world mage Coven in its day, now overrun with a weaponized Strigoi.”
Arkash and Izzy nodded in tandem. “Make’s sense,” the half elf said as she closed the waterskin. “So what are we gonna do about it?”
The Cardinals exchanged a glance, then laughed darkly in tandem.
Izzy furrowed her brow and looked between the two with some concern to furrow her brow. “What?”
“Well,” Arkash continued.
“A Strigoi of that strength is sure to help us evolve a little faster,” Fayeth finished. Arkash pointed a finger at the Cardinal, waved it and nodded.
“…You’re going to eat it?” The Cardinals nodded. “You’re going to eat that giant bug?” Again, they nodded.
The color seemed to drain from her features at the thought before her nervous eye darted to Arkash. “I might not have been kidding about the scorpions,” he said with a wry smirk.
She balled a fist and brought it to cover her mouth as she swallowed hard in a desperate attempt to keep the stomach full of water down. Arkash and Fayeth howled in laughter, almost cruel in their wild cackling.
“You don’t know where it’s been!” She protested.
“Sure, but we know where it’s going!” Fayeth retorted.
“It ate-!” She paused, a widened eye to herald her sudden distress. A hand came up to cover her mouth as her eye watered.
Arkash’s laughter quickly died, and his gaze fixed squarely on the girl where she sat. “The mess in the hall…? That was…?”
Shakily, she nodded, eye glistening in the dark of the room.
“That’s… Unfortunate. I was hoping you’d somehow wounded it,” Arkash voiced, void of all the mirth that had once coursed through his being.
“-What happened?” Asked Fayeth once the gravity of the situation dawned on her.
Arkash exhaled and shook his head dismissively. “I’d brought a few others here, useful people with heads like ours. Seems the Strigoi got them.”
Fayeth sighed in response. “You can’t blame yourself for their weakness, Arkash.”
“They weren’t weak,” Arkash clarified. “Some of them were mages with multiple marks of control. This thing is more dangerous than we gave it credit for.”
Fayeth’s reassuring smile withdrew, replaced with something of a frown. “I see…” She thought behind those words. “Well, how did it first emerge? What were you doing?”
“Nothing,” Izzy answered. “We found a bunch of ventilation tunnels above us, stuff to keep fresh air coming in and to lead smoke and stuff from the rooms. We’d just lit a fire and were starting to cook some of the Wurm meat from Rustbucket…”
Arkash rose a brow at Fayeth, she mirrored his gesture. “…Smell of blood in an enclosed, poorly ventilated area…” She began as if to imply something.
“…Don’t suppose you have any more of that Wurm meat do you?” Arkash asked.
“No,” she shook her head. “It attacked ages ago, ate all the provisions, broke the lower lever so we couldn’t recall the lift. I swear it’s been days since I was trapped in there… Fuck.” Her head came to rest on the chiseled wall of the chamber.
Arkash frowned. The fact that the lift was up at the time of the attack implied that at least one of them had made it out, and it was unfortunately not Izzy. “I’m sorry, I wish I’d come back sooner, could have made a difference.” He looked to Fayeth then. “We’re gonna need more of that Wurm Meat from Rustbucket just across from here, and an Artificer to fix that lever. With the Wurm meat, we can bait it and ambush it, three of us.”
“Three of us?” Izzy asked. “What do you mean? I can’t fight that thing.” She looked between the two. “I’m not a Dranoch, I can’t-”
“-My gun,” Arkash said with a tap of his claw on sky stealer. “You’ve fired a rifle before right? It didn’t really like the first blast, so I think you’ve got a good chance if you just hang back and take some pot shots at it while Fayeth and I fight on the front.”
The senior Cardinal nodded, then cast a glance between the gun and the half elf. “So long as you’re sure you won’t hit us, that’s fine.”
Arkash laughed, then tapped his temple with a claw. “Didn’t think of that. Yeah, just mind your aim when we’re down there and you’ll be good.”
Izzy seemed to think for a moment, then nodded as she wiped her eye with her sleeve before she looked between both of them. “Yeah, I can do that. Might need a torch or something to help me see, but…” She nodded again, then brought her lips to curl in a slight grin. “Okay, that sounds like a plan. Thanks, Ark,” she spoke softly, apparently grateful.
“It’s fine, while we’re in town I’ll let you handle it, maybe find some junk for target practice while we’re there. Sound good?” Again, the girl nodded, and Arkash grinned as he stood and took the weapon into his claws. It first dangled by the sling, then shifted as Arkash pulled and took the weapon by the barrel and extended the stock to the half elf. “Be careful with it; I’ve only got the one.”
Her eye was alight with the smile that pulled at her lips as she accepted the weapon, marveling the design of the brass inlays and the body of the stock. For a moment, Arkash considered as he passed off the weapon to her; wasn’t she a mage? Supposedly a mage of three marks, Izzy was strong enough on her own but felt so terribly unmatched for them.
Curious, he tucked the thought to the recess of his mind, then returned to the boulder-like door with a lean while he waited for the corrupted storm to pass.
On the circular floor of that slow climbing Elevator, Izzy had withdrawn to sit. She breathed hard, then laid on her back to further open her lungs. Deep breaths lifted her chest as quickly as they left her, mouth agape beneath her one closed eye while she steadily recovered.
Arkash still stared in silence as the lift gradually ascended, brass gears whirring beyond the crank of metal as the teeth bit the empty spaces in their slow climb.
Steadily, he lowered his gun, then exhaled deeply. “…How did this happen?” He quizzed immediately as his deep red eye turned on the girl.
“I don’t… I dunno…” She answered, breathless.
“Did you go there? Did you go to the silk wall?” Accusation weighed in his tone, the force of his voice that bared its anger.
“No,” she answered. “I didn’t, I didn’t do nuffin’,” she answered, and rolled her head side to side on the stone floor.
Arkash’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t head down there looking for Relics?” He opened the revolving chamber of his gun and pushed the used shell from the chamber before he stuffed another into the loading passage, then snapped it shut with a flick of his wrist.
Fayeth’s red eyes watched the discarded shell as it bounced on the engraved flooring, then lifted again to her progeny and his companion. “This is the Badlander you told me of?” Asked the Cardinal in an attempt to break the tension of the air. “The Sunderer, correct? Izzy?”
Arkash looked to the Sil’norai, then nodded gently. “Izzy, this is Fayeth, Fayeth, Izzy. Fayeth is the one that made me a Dranoch some… Six seasons ago.”
“A pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard good things,” Fayeth spoke with a courteous bow and sheathed her crooked blades at each hip.
“For real?” She asked, turning her head to lay while she looked at the Cardinal. “I’d say Ark’s bullshitting- but I’ve been pretty good so far.”
The young Rathor grinned. “Up until now, anyway.”
Fayeth nodded, arms crossed across her front as the elevator came to a stop at the top of the track. “Yes, that beast is something of a problem it would seem,” she spoke casually, no venom or any sort of accusation to direct her ire. “What happened, Izzy? How did that thing escape this… Silk wall you two keep mentioning?”
Arkash cleared his throat as he moved to take a knee at the bag he’d left at the edge of the circle, the rush of wind beyond the stone door was audible in the chamber within which they hid. “I found this gun here,” Arkash began to explain as he lifted it to point the barrel at the ceiling, then clicked the safety before he set it down on the floor beside his belongings. “It was right outside this doorway that was woven shut with spider silk, the entire hall up to that point had been completely covered with webbing; really sticky stuff. Took a second to pry the case open but… Anyway,” he continued as he sifted through the bag.
“He heard something movin’ around past the door, didn’t know what it was but thought it was bad news,” Izzy said as she sat up, and wiped a sweat from her brow.
“I see…” Fayeth spoke as she lowered to sit on her ankles, propped on her toes from where she crouched. “So we think this is the thing that was hiding in the bowels of this… Derelict you discovered?”
Both Arkash and Izzy nodded in tandem, eyes locked on the Cardinal. She hummed thoughtfully, then turned a little to commit to sitting on the dusty floor, knees held close to her chest. “Makes you wonder what this place really is… Or what t used to be.”
The Rath nodded. “That thing’s a Strigoi, no doubt about it,” he said as he collected a full waterskin from the contents of his satchel, then briefly offered it to Izzy. When she lifted her hands to receive it, he tossed it to her and landed the container in her hands.
“Thanks,” She said as she popped the cap on the thing and paused. “…What’s a Stigo?”
“Strigoi,” Fayeth corrected. “A type of undead created through Necromancy, usually very powerful necromancy.”
Arkash nodded with a glance to Fayeth; that was right, she knew her stuff when it came to the world at large. A glance at Izzy saw her with the water skin clutched with both hands, head knocked back to drink the contents without pause. “It looks like it’s really well made too; your swords couldn’t break its shell,” he said with a nod in Fayeth’s direction.
“Right… I did see, Arkash.”
“Yeah,” he spoke with a moment of reflection and nodded. “Right, sorry.”
The woman merely grinned and shook her head. “Evidence of Necromancy, Artificing, and Sundering,” Fayeth continued to think aloud. “This might have been a den for some sort of world mage Coven in its day, now overrun with a weaponized Strigoi.”
Arkash and Izzy nodded in tandem. “Make’s sense,” the half elf said as she closed the waterskin. “So what are we gonna do about it?”
The Cardinals exchanged a glance, then laughed darkly in tandem.
Izzy furrowed her brow and looked between the two with some concern to furrow her brow. “What?”
“Well,” Arkash continued.
“A Strigoi of that strength is sure to help us evolve a little faster,” Fayeth finished. Arkash pointed a finger at the Cardinal, waved it and nodded.
“…You’re going to eat it?” The Cardinals nodded. “You’re going to eat that giant bug?” Again, they nodded.
The color seemed to drain from her features at the thought before her nervous eye darted to Arkash. “I might not have been kidding about the scorpions,” he said with a wry smirk.
She balled a fist and brought it to cover her mouth as she swallowed hard in a desperate attempt to keep the stomach full of water down. Arkash and Fayeth howled in laughter, almost cruel in their wild cackling.
“You don’t know where it’s been!” She protested.
“Sure, but we know where it’s going!” Fayeth retorted.
“It ate-!” She paused, a widened eye to herald her sudden distress. A hand came up to cover her mouth as her eye watered.
Arkash’s laughter quickly died, and his gaze fixed squarely on the girl where she sat. “The mess in the hall…? That was…?”
Shakily, she nodded, eye glistening in the dark of the room.
“That’s… Unfortunate. I was hoping you’d somehow wounded it,” Arkash voiced, void of all the mirth that had once coursed through his being.
“-What happened?” Asked Fayeth once the gravity of the situation dawned on her.
Arkash exhaled and shook his head dismissively. “I’d brought a few others here, useful people with heads like ours. Seems the Strigoi got them.”
Fayeth sighed in response. “You can’t blame yourself for their weakness, Arkash.”
“They weren’t weak,” Arkash clarified. “Some of them were mages with multiple marks of control. This thing is more dangerous than we gave it credit for.”
Fayeth’s reassuring smile withdrew, replaced with something of a frown. “I see…” She thought behind those words. “Well, how did it first emerge? What were you doing?”
“Nothing,” Izzy answered. “We found a bunch of ventilation tunnels above us, stuff to keep fresh air coming in and to lead smoke and stuff from the rooms. We’d just lit a fire and were starting to cook some of the Wurm meat from Rustbucket…”
Arkash rose a brow at Fayeth, she mirrored his gesture. “…Smell of blood in an enclosed, poorly ventilated area…” She began as if to imply something.
“…Don’t suppose you have any more of that Wurm meat do you?” Arkash asked.
“No,” she shook her head. “It attacked ages ago, ate all the provisions, broke the lower lever so we couldn’t recall the lift. I swear it’s been days since I was trapped in there… Fuck.” Her head came to rest on the chiseled wall of the chamber.
Arkash frowned. The fact that the lift was up at the time of the attack implied that at least one of them had made it out, and it was unfortunately not Izzy. “I’m sorry, I wish I’d come back sooner, could have made a difference.” He looked to Fayeth then. “We’re gonna need more of that Wurm Meat from Rustbucket just across from here, and an Artificer to fix that lever. With the Wurm meat, we can bait it and ambush it, three of us.”
“Three of us?” Izzy asked. “What do you mean? I can’t fight that thing.” She looked between the two. “I’m not a Dranoch, I can’t-”
“-My gun,” Arkash said with a tap of his claw on sky stealer. “You’ve fired a rifle before right? It didn’t really like the first blast, so I think you’ve got a good chance if you just hang back and take some pot shots at it while Fayeth and I fight on the front.”
The senior Cardinal nodded, then cast a glance between the gun and the half elf. “So long as you’re sure you won’t hit us, that’s fine.”
Arkash laughed, then tapped his temple with a claw. “Didn’t think of that. Yeah, just mind your aim when we’re down there and you’ll be good.”
Izzy seemed to think for a moment, then nodded as she wiped her eye with her sleeve before she looked between both of them. “Yeah, I can do that. Might need a torch or something to help me see, but…” She nodded again, then brought her lips to curl in a slight grin. “Okay, that sounds like a plan. Thanks, Ark,” she spoke softly, apparently grateful.
“It’s fine, while we’re in town I’ll let you handle it, maybe find some junk for target practice while we’re there. Sound good?” Again, the girl nodded, and Arkash grinned as he stood and took the weapon into his claws. It first dangled by the sling, then shifted as Arkash pulled and took the weapon by the barrel and extended the stock to the half elf. “Be careful with it; I’ve only got the one.”
Her eye was alight with the smile that pulled at her lips as she accepted the weapon, marveling the design of the brass inlays and the body of the stock. For a moment, Arkash considered as he passed off the weapon to her; wasn’t she a mage? Supposedly a mage of three marks, Izzy was strong enough on her own but felt so terribly unmatched for them.
Curious, he tucked the thought to the recess of his mind, then returned to the boulder-like door with a lean while he waited for the corrupted storm to pass.
Image source.
