The Road to Tullybrook

"Nothin' I cannae hold meself to," Abryxia replied, puffing out her chest and grinning. She'd never quite admit it, but Rally saying when she was famous, not if made her a little more giddy than she'd any right to be. They were just a kid talking like a kid. Kids didn't talk in maybes and hopefuls, for them, everything was absolute, and any difference in that was simply a detour to the inevitable.

But - Rally wasn't just a kid, were they? And something about that certainty felt - nice, coming from them. It was an odd request, to set the record straight on the Dark One of all people, but Rally seemed quite invested in the whole ordeal. A child with incredible feats of magic - who seemed to have an intimate knowledge of the Dark One's past - and an emotional stake in the whole thing -

Oh, Abryxia wasn't all that smart, but she was certainly able to put two and two together. The Dark One had a lotta cults all around, and they were absolutely the sort to get into magic. If Rally wasn't the kid of some high up cultist, well, she'd eat her own socks. She didn't say so, though, and didn't ask. Rally wasn't being open about it for a reason, and whatever that reason was, Abryxia didn't care.

"I'll make sure ta set tha record straight -" she paused, scratching her head. "- lessee here. Sixty-three days, an' no worship, ye say?"

The fire was warm, and her belly was full, and crickets were out by the plenty. It was a lovely night. A lovelier night than any she'd had in weeks. And she'd met a dragon! Not everyone could say that, no they couldn't. High on life and high in spirits, she reached for her lute, giving the strings a quick, careful strum.

"Don' worship me, sixty-three - stormy sea - hm. Ol' High Mere, fear... steer? Arrear."

A few more notes.

"Tha Dark One's all misunderstood under his big black hood,
He doesn' wanna be a god, he jus' - he jus' does what he does
An' if ye wore that big black hood an' did what Dark Ones do
I bet fer all yer mighty deeds, ye'd shun tha worship too!"
 
All the while as the pair were talking, the wyrm only seemed mildly interested in them - but the whole time was creeping closer and closer. It was remarkably silent, for a beast of its size, to the point where if either of the women were to look up it'd seem like it had suddenly teleported just beside them both.

Still, the puff of smoke that billowed between them was a dead giveaway of the head, neck craned, looming above them both.

Mrrrrrrrrror.

Leaning in, its mouth gaped - jaws clamping shut on the edge of Morgan's hair.
 
"It's... closer," Rally Rose allowed, tilting their head a little bit underneath the hat. They leaned forward, presumably resting their cheekbone on their kneecap, if the positioning of the hat was any indication. They watched the fire, tiny and tame.

"They were dying." A quiet statement. "In High Mere. Sixty three days of siege. The defenses were so strong, but they'd run out of food, and they were dying. Not the fighters. The sick. The old. The children."

Rally wrapped their fingers around the stick again, drawing lines on the ground with the charred tip beside the fire. Maybe it was a town, or a castle, or a fortress. Something like.

They studied the back of their hand, watching the movement of the bones beneath the skin. "Living magic, it... flows downhill, you know. Like a river. An insect cannot bring back a bird. Rarity, strength, wisdom. Time. You can bring back a child at the cost of their parents. And you can bring back all the children and the elderly and the sick, after sixty-three days, at the cost of everyone remaining."

The fire flickered, a wayward flame leaping for a moment before settling back in with the rest of them.

"And then, of course, there's no one left who can hold a weapon, so the army just... walks in and kills them all again."
 
It was beginning to grow irksome and suspicious that the woman seemingly refused to identify herself. Viviane turned on the rock she was seated on, facing her body towards the fire as she prepared herself to get up and rejoin the rest of her travelling companions, giving Morgan a wary glance. "As much as you may believe otherwise, I have no command over it. Whether it follows us or not is entirely its own decision."

As she spoke, the Lady moved to stand, before being taken completely and entirely off guard by the dragon, who had, at some point in the last few moments, rose to its own feet, easily towering over the two of them. The column of smoke that it produced was enough to freeze Viviane in her tracks, half standing, eyes wide as it clamped its jaws on her cagey visitors hair. She was stunned speechless, and now much to afraid to move, instead watching in a terrified silence.
 
Stupid, stupid- curiosity should never be mistaken for peacefulness, no matter how weird the situation is. She ought to have run from this damn thing the moment she saw it- why did she stop to chat?

Its jaws narrowly missed her head. Morgan stumbled forwards, still refusing to look at the beast- though there likely wasn't much point in that, given that the damn thing was already provoked. Fuck- think, think. It was a juvenile, which meant its flame sac was still developing, right? There should be a soft spot under its chin, where the scales haven't fully fused yet- wasn't that some sort of pressure point? That should be enough, shouldn't it? What did that hunter tell her- thwack it under the chin, and it'll stop breathing fire... or just stop breathing? Stop you breathing? Catch fire?

Even if she failed, she thought, she was probably going to die anyway. Better to at least try to save the other one, right? Morgan reached an arm out behind her and punched upwards, aiming beneath the wyrm's head, attempting to wound the flame sac- though, to what end, she couldn't quite remember. Regardless of the outcome, she wouldn't be sticking around. Morgan ran as soon as the strike landed, reaching out to grab Viviane as she passed.
 
“That’s… a rather dreadful story” Sae said, a concerned turn to the corners of her lips. She tossed the last of the bread into her mouth before brushing the crumbs off her hands. It was quite the gruesome thing for a child to know with such detail, had it been a part of Rally’s education? They seemed rather heated about the whole idea of Dark One worship so perhaps that was the reason why?

“I can’t say I’ve heard that version of the story before.” Sae said. She picked up a log and added it to the fire, it lit up well. “Is it one that’s been passed down where you’re from?”
 
The strike hit the wyrm true, and it let out a sound that was a mix between a huff and a goose's honk. Opening its mouth to let the poor taxidermist free, it took a few steps back, lowering its head to keep its eyes level with the fleeing woman. Sending out a heavy blast of smoke, it stretched its tiny wings, then turned.

Swish. Swash.

The tail sent up a cloud of rocks and dirt and debris, hiding its massive form as - with rumbling steps - it departed into the forest.

--

Abryxia seemed to droop a bit as Rally went on, letting her lyre fall into her lap and folding her hands neatly over it. Maybe she'd been wrong about the whole - cult thing. Maybe this was the other way. Seeming sympathies aside, Rally seemed well in rights of the terrible things the Dark One had done, telling a story even Abryxia hadn't heard. Erdgate wasn't the sort of place that liked the Dark One much at all, but even their tales of his conquests weren't so -

Bleak.

"Sorry. Wrong o' me ta - ta make light on a thing like that," she replied a bit meekly. "Didn' know tha full o' it. Sae's - Sae's right, though, where'd ye learn a tale like that? Are ye Aldermerean?"
 
Everything happened in an instant- or, at least, it seemed one to Viviane. The odd woman struck the dragon, after warning her so many times to try to avoid agitating it, and then broke free. Already that was shocking enough, but paired with the grasp on her wrist, and the pull by the woman, she was well and thoroughly lost. Lady Allard was pulled along towards the tower for about two steps, and as she turned to look back, expecting a jet of flame or the flash of teeth, she found... nothing.

She had no idea where it had gone, save for the distant rustling of the brush as it took off. As everything fell back into silence, it was only now that Viviane realized just how hard her heart was racing, how flush her face likely was. It felt like she'd just chanced death, and defied the odds. Granted, it was the stranger who had run it off, not her, but still! She'd been there, with her!

Viviane cleared her throat, and gently but firmly pulled her wrist free from the woman's grasp. "Now that the dragon is gone, I must ask- how did you do that? Run it away, I mean. And, again, what is your name? I refuse to not know who I am speaking with any longer than this."
 
Maybe they should not have said anything.

Maybe they just should have stayed silent, like a dead cicada. Cicadas weren't really supposed to live very long, after all. Rally Rose wondered what that was like. They didn't really want to be quiet, though. If you didn't say anything, people just assumed that you agreed, and you ended up going along with a lot of things.

They didn't really want to answer the questions. Rally considered lying, but... you really weren't supposed to lie to your friends, right? They were pretty sure about that. They weren't sure if Sae and Abryxia were friends, really, but they weren't going to be if Rally Rose started lying to them. Not real friends, anyway.

They stared for a moment at the stick-drawn city, wondering if it still looked anything like that - but no, of course it didn't. It hadn't even looked like that-

Well, not since the armies went through, anyway.

"No."

Their voice was very quiet. Maybe the wind would take it away and no one would hear. Then they wouldn't have lied and they wouldn't have been silent.

"No, I... I just remember."
 
Well fuck me sideways, it actually worked.

It wasn't until they had stopped running that Morgan realised this, turning over her shoulder to see that their pursuer had flown off. Her head was still intact, it seemed- as was Viviane's. All in one piece, eh? That was a stroke of luck if ever there was one- she'd have to check her pockets once they were back, in case she had accidentally packed her entire stock of rabbit's feet.

When Viviane asked her name, Morgan answered immediately.

"Calanthe."

Calanthe. Not her name at all, but one that might be known- far more famous than Gristlemead, as far as most were concerned.

"I'm a... a hunter from down near Bonewick." She nodded, "Travelling up north for business. I must say, it's odd to see a wyrm so far south... y' got any idea what could've brought it down here?"
 
Just… remembered? For all she was worth, Sae wasn’t quite certain what Rally had meant by that, but it also seemed like they didn’t want to talk further about it and prying further seemed a touch rude for having only known the kid for half a day.

“Well, perhaps you can tell us another story sometime, hm? Sae said, adding two of the smaller bits of wood she had gathered to the fire. Sap sizzled in one. “Stories are half the fun of a campfire anyway. Though, maybe we should tell something a touch lighter next time.” She added with a wink.

“Now, what do we all think about a song to help us all warm some before we sleep for the night?”
 
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