private The Fall of Andalasia ~Book 1~

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass slumped down and leaned back: resting his back against the trunk of a sturdy-enough tree. He watched the fire for a couple of minutes as he listened - allowing the music to fill his mind before tilting his hat downwards and over his eyes.

 

The flickering orange light of the fire was still visible under the brim of the headpiece. He closed his eyes - trying desperately to block it out and focus instead on the music, but the fire wasn't just in their camp: it was in his mind and wasn't going to go away any time soon. He found his thoughts drifting as the presence of magic and song muddied the clarity he craved so much.

 

Fire wove around the young hunters arm - snapping taut like a rope as he closed his hand and pulled with all the strength he had. The woman was pulled aside at the last possible moment: a concentrated storm of magic detonating where she had been standing just moments before.

 

"Why?" She asked incredulously - grasping the bleeding wound on her forearm.

 

"Because while they want us both dead, you're more use to me alive." The hunter grunted - holding out a hand to the Mage and feeling he fingers close around his wrist. Hefting her upright, he drew the bastard sword and glanced back at the second girl - little more than a child. She nodded with a slight smile, pleased to see her tutor keep an open mind for the first time.

 

"Fine! Lets get out of here, then we'll figure out how you'll try to kill me." The woman said, pushing her hair away from her eyes as fire began to weave itself into a shape in her free hand. "Watch out for the..."

 

The scene that had played out in his mind snapped back to black with a bust of flame. Adrass became aware of the glow of the campfire and the sound of the music with a start - he blinked under the shade of the hat.

[Sekel 694]

Helena closed her eyes and listened to the soothing melodies. Tulla was right, this was what they all needed. She turned around and stared at the fire while listening. There may not have been magic in Robert's playing and weird-sounding words but there may as well have been. Tilting her head to the side slightly, she got a curious look on her face. She blinked and found herself looking at a burning house in the flames as well as hear the distant roar of a dragon. She shivered and remembered the feeling of intense terror as she stared, transfixed, at the fire. 

[Torrent505 370]

Clarke ran a finger over his upper lip where Whisper had drawn her finger, it came away black and sooty. He flushed a third time, they weren't laughing at the situation the Princess had made him the butt of her joke by drawing all over him with soot and they were just laughing at him. He took the joke the completely the wrong way, not as harmless fun but as an insult.

 

He didn't stay to eat the fish stew with them, he couldn't allow that they'd just be laughing at his face the entire time, it was too bad he didn't stay the music may of helped him. Instead he left going back to his cart while thinking to himself, 'that was probably the point all along, invite the dirty 'Gearhead' over and mock him. Keep him away from his coffee watch how quickly he falls asleep. HA. HA. HA.'

 

When he got to his cart he didn't even bother to look at the Princess's doodles as he began a cleansing process. He move to the far side of his cart as he undressed, hot soaked towels from a compartment to clean his face and skin, a bowl of chemically treated water for his hair, a foamy and blade to remove any stubble from his chin and finally switching to an nearly identical Tinkerer's uniform while putting the old one inside the cart to be sanitized. Scrubbed clean he brewed a cup of his java to refresh him and decided to finally continue his plan to get rich.

 

He activated a part of the cart that mimicked sound magic to send a message that only a tinkerer in Coppershine would receive and be able to translate. That Tinkerer was in the permanent employ of the Crimelord Jaiden Turnwell, the man that owned the city and everyone in it. The message was simple, "have Jaiden gather a fortune to pay me" and then it detailed who he was bringing to the city and what allies she had with her. He had felt guilty about planning to sell the princess to the crimelord, but right now he was glad he'd only be with them another week or two. Besides the plan he had suggested had been the best path to get Whisper to the capital anyways and that proved the girl had been destined to fail; nothing went into Coppershine without Jaiden learning about it so Clarke might as well at least collect payment. He ignored the thought of what might happen to the others as he sent the message.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Torrent505

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I looked around the song the bard was playing entering my ear relaxing me, the relaxation let me think and my thoughts brought memories of my first kills, the blood on my hands the bodies, the fight, it felt amazing. The deaths of my enemies seemed to a awaken something in me.

 

That something I would later find out was my shadow magick, awakened by the death of those bandits, it would be years later that I find out about my magick and start to utilize it. Becoming who I was today.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Shadow Dancer

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Whisper watched him leave, confusion in her eyes as he did so. She didn't understand what had happened. Had she said something wrong?

 

He was angry, that much she could tell. At her? Why? She sighed and studied the soot on her palms, Tulla was right, it was difficult making friends with other people. The depression didn't snag her though; the music was too calming. The princess was relieved she could at least bask in these sad thoughts in lighthearted music.

[Torrent505 370]

Clarke finished the message and returned to the campfire, he was clean now so at least they couldn't mock him for that; sitting with them would still be good he needed to at least keep up appearances of being friendly and on their side. He helped himself to a bowl of soup before returning to his bedroll. He didn't say anything to Whisper as he sat back down next to her, the music was sweet and his at her anger faded quickly, maybe she hadn't meant it as an insult or a joke on him, she could have just been being playful, it would be dreadfully boring to have a sleeping man stuck in your lap and nothing to do... He stared into the fire for a few more moments, the sleeping dragon flickering within and the conversation about his storybook name plus the good cheer in the music brought about half forgotten memories of doodling beside brothers and sisters. He spoke without thinking, "if you like to draw I have some tools for it and parchment. It would probably be better canvas than my face." Guilt about what he was going to do to these people was already starting to crawl back into his head.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I quickly realized how relaxed I was becoming and the memories, and I snapped myself out of my trance. I got up and before I left the fire said, "I'm going to go for a while enjoy the music."

 

Figuring that no one heard me I left to clear my head and enjoy my element some more, solitude and darkness.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"I'm sorry...I couldn't help it. You looked so peaceful and..." And what? That she couldn't have looked anywhere else then his face? To tell him that she had needed too, to preoccupy herself to stop the butterflies in her chest? What was that anyway?

 

The princess just looked back into the flames "Thank you, but I won't need them. It was just a misjudgment on my part."

[Torrent505 370]

That actually made Clarke give a little snort of amusement, "A misjudgment? I don't understand how drawing on my face could have any judgements at all, were the designs and the sizings of the drawings wrong?" He was kidding with her off course, though such joking was more suited to a fellow Tinkerer who understood making schematics. The reaction had come easy to him, she was upset and sorry about it and really it hadn't been too big of a deal... Then the magnitude of that thought settled in.

 

The way she was acting, he hadn't expected her to apologize; a Noble apologizing, especially a Princess apologizing to him, it was surreal. He gave her a sidelong glance and stared at her while she was looking into the fire, when she noticed he looked away suddenly and found himself blushing. She seemed genuinely sad and repentant, was it because he had gotten angry? This all was unnerving to him, he needed to fix it and struggled for what to say. "I... I've never had someone draw on me before, uh it caught me off guard and well Tinkerer's aren't know for their cleanliness... Falling asleep on a Princess and being so unclean as to wake up with ash drawings on me from said Princess made me feel rather uncouth and I thought it might be a comment on my... Dirty state. If it wasn't than I apologize, I didn't think of it as mere entertainment... Now I feel a bit upset for not looking at them before washing them away... What does a Princess draw on ones face for entertainment, Lady Whisper?"

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"Miss Whisp." She corrected him.

 

"It looked like you had an eyepatch so...I wanted to give you a mustache and some off those jagged wheel things on your cart. They keep everything moving right?" Whisper ate her soup, speaking softly.

 

"That's how I imagined your brain to be, always thinking always moving..." she enjoyed the soup quite a bit; and had to keep pausing between mouthfuls.

[Torrent505 370]

Everything about what she said made him grin, "Good to see you're commitment to the troupe and their performance Miss Whisp... Hmmm, I understand why the others were chuckling now, I must have been a sight to behold. And those things are called gears, yeah they make things move but they don't move on their own, my cart uses technological means to mimic magick and move air and water how I want it to move inside so that the gears move. But I don't want to bore you, my mind is a bit like that always churning and creating, it's a Tinkerer's brain we're raised that way. It's a blessing to help us build but sometimes it's hard to relax and sleep, sometimes you think up things you shouldn't..." His thought's turned once again to the plan to betray this girl and his guilt increase ten fold; why hadn't she been like this before? If she wasn't a spoiled noble then he might have changed... No he couldn't think like that, the plan couldn't be changed, no other plan would have made sense anyways. His spoon clanked against the bottom of the bowl, he hadn't even registered eating it let alone finishing the meal, this was all too distracting.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Torrent505

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"What things could you possibly think of that you shouldn't? " Whisper asked curiously. But she smiled. He wasn't angry with her after all.

 

She patted her face with her own sooted hands, leaving marks behind. Tulla chuckled; Whisper looked wild with her unbraided mass of black hair and 'war' paint. Like sensing her friends thoughts; Whisper pulled her hair over her shoulder to begin brushing it through with her fingers.

 

"How long until we get to our destination you think?" She asked him.

[Torrent505 370]

Clarke shook his head and thought of what else he could tell her as something he shouldn't think of, "Weapons... That's how I have my connection with the black market in Coppershine, something's are just too dangerous to be made others are just too dangerous to be allowed in some kingdoms. I tend to make the later for people that very much want to own such things at their own risk of punishment from the capital... You've got some..." He reached out and wipe some of the soot away and instead smeared it across her cheek, "... Ah, there got it..." He corners of his mouth trembled as he suppressed a laugh, he turn his head and coughed into his fist to hide it.

 

He managed to keep the humor out of his words, "To Ashcreek forest? Two or three days. To Coppershine? It depends on how our travel through Ashcreek goes, could be a week, could be two. If the ghosts of Ashcreek appear we may never get out." He laughed playing the comment off as a joke and using the large smug on her face to help make it authentic, "that won't happen though, it's just old wives tales and nasty beasties in there and we've got our own powerful beasties to scare those off."

 

He noticed how the music seemed to be making everyone's eyes begin to droop. "We should call it a night though, we have a long way to travel tomorrow to get to the forest as quick as possible... I have a spare bedroll Miss Whisp, you go ahead and take this one, payment for letting me nap in your lap; I've just had some java and I'll be taking first watch anyways." It was a lie, he only had the one bedroll she'd be asleep before him and wake up later than him so she'd never know...

 

********Time skip commencing*******

 

Clarke took first watch, Adrass took the second, Indicus took the third and Clarke having gotten an unthinkable 6 hours of sleep demanded to watch until morning. The night was very boring and uneventful, in the morning shift Clarke had the brilliant idea to mimic Whisper's way of entertainment, he went to the smudge and drew it into a gear. She showed no signs of waking and he drew another and another; his mind working to place them, still an hour before waking up her face was decorated in a system of interlocking soot gears.

 

At dawn he woke the entire party with the blare his cart's horn. He had readied all the horses and organized the supplies. "We're now burn daylight everyone! Up, up up. Time to hit the road!"

Edited August 19, 2014 by Torrent505

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Torrent505,

"Alright! Alright! I'm getting up!" Dresden yelled as he groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes; it was bad enough that Clarke used the horn but Dresden couldn't sneak an extra 5 minuets because then he started yelling to make sure no one fell asleep. "Was the horn really necessarily?"

Edited August 19, 2014 by Flying Ace

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I did not need the horn to wake up, I was awake about a half hour before the damn horn blared out, but I just held my complaint knowing it would do no good. I ate some dried fruit I got at the market in the previous town, waiting for the others to wake up so we could go.

[Sekel 694]

@@Torrent505

Helena woke up wuth a start and glared at Clarke. "What's the big idea!? It's baely dawn and you say we're hurning daylight?" Helena complained, jumping off of the branch sh had fallen asleep on. During the night, she moved from looking at the fire to sitting a top a branch before eventually falling asleep on it.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

Robert had barely slept anyway, kept busy between practice and continued work chronicling their adventures through song. But he was used to that. He could sleep when he was old and useless and incapable of doing anything exciting. If he lived that long, anyway. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't miss it too much from the grave.

 

He slowly got up and stretched for a while before heading over to join the others. He hadn't moved from the rock he'd been leaning on, and his body was a bit stiff by now.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass climbed to his feet without complaint: sparing a moment for the strenuous routine of maintaining his looks.

 

He ran a hand through his hair, bursting out a leaf and a bug that had fount its way into him in the night.

 

Content that the six seconds were only a minor waste of time, he hefted the bastard sword onto his back and was prepared - otherwise sleeping as he travelled. After a few years one forgot about the discomfort, and after a few more began to feel naked when without their equipment attached to them at all times.

 

He had slept as well as could be expected - some freak-hybrid of memory, dream and nightmare toying on the edge of his consciousness had done its best to wake him, but to no avail. No, he had slept well enough: he knew full well that his next few days would not be easy, and he would need to be rested if he was to fight. Let the children play at soldiers all they would: Adrass intended to face down any danger with every last effort he could muster. Going to battle without enough sleep was as bad as doing so without a weapon after all.

 

"I am eager to move on, Master Engineer. I trust that my assistance will not be needed, this is your domain after all." Adrass planted a had firmly on Clarkes shoulder - fully ready to follow the mundane, reliable and otherwise non-mage onto whatever roads he might lead. "That said, I was hoping that we might make camp tonight someplace enclosed - where sound will not carry so well as our place last night."

 

He glanced between the forms of Tulla and the Princess. The flaw with his plan of course, was that neither knew how to fight, yet he only carried two swords. Trying to train them to not get killed would be... interesting.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

"Might I suggest that next time you find a more subtle way of waking us!" In his jolt to get up Zaddion had managed to dislodge himself from the stable rock and hit his head on the ground, so much for trying to keep an aura of perfection. Clutching his temple and slowly making the way to his feet, the Mage took a quick glance around to find his new 'friend.' There were a thousand and one things to do, all of which were delayed by the current pace of their little adventure. Perhaps it would be best to put off any real Magick until they reached an area of already substantial saturation, although given what he'd felt so far that was unlikely to happen.

 

Perhaps worse was the lack of any focus, The Mark did its job but he was not particularly fond of the side effects. Shaking his head, the Mage snapped back into the reality of why he was here, there would be time for such things at a later date. "Well, unless someone has something else planned I guess there's nothing better to do than move on."

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Tulla crouched by the lake with Whisper. The princess was staring at her reflection in the water; entranced by the schematic on her face. It would be terrifying, she thought, if someone could build a machine that looked human. She didn't want to wash it off but she did. Tulla just watched.

 

She leaned back on her heels; looking back at the tinkerer with a slight glare. Tulla didn't trust him, Clarke gave her a twisted feeling in the gut.

 

The raven pecked at the soil, eating its breakfast of worms. When Zaddion had awoken, it cawed and fluttered up to rest on his shoulder. It always chose the side of which the shadow magick flowed fiercer.

 

Before they set out, Tulla approached them without the princess. Whisper had gone to Clarke to inquire about the doodles. Tulla placed a hand on her hip asnshe addressed the others quietly "I have a favor to ask. If each of you could train with the princess just a little, teach her what you know, it would help us all in the long run. Dresden, she doesn't know a thing about water magic, same with you Zaddion. You may be the most useful of all. Helena and Indicus you could teach her to sneak and evade or whatnot, I dont know."

 

She looked at Adrass although adressing everyone "I think we should keep an eye on that tinkerer. He was too eager to help us once he learned who Whisper was. I don't buy his 'Miss Whisp' bit for a second."

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass glanced between the Clarke and Tulla - truth be told he wouldn't fully trust anyone not of the order, but of their group as it stood they were the two that he trusted most, possibly with the exception of the bard. He nodded slightly. It wouldn't hurt to remain vigilant: his missing finger was a constant reminder to not become complacent after all. People got hurt when he grew accustomed to trust, and he couldn't allow the princess or himself to be hurt.

 

"Beatmistr... Miss Tulla, I would appreciate your assistance when I come to show the princess how to defend herself. Nothing technical I assure you." He raised a brow expectantly. "It would be most appreciated."

[Flying Ace 142]

@@RunsWithSquirlz,

Dresden glanced at Clarke then Tulla then back to Clarke then back to Tulla. "It is suspicious how he jumped on this adventure as soon as he figered out who she was." Dresden rubbed his chin in thought it was true that Whisper had the fighting skills of a fly, (no offense), but to him her healing powers were already useful. As long as she wasn't cranky; then she was just scary.

[Sekel 694]

@@RunsWithSquirlz

Helena looked at Clarke and spoke while se did. "How quickly did he jump on? I think I missed that part. Amyway, I'll be sure to help teach Whisp how to evade and such. It's saved my life plenty of times so hopefully it can do the same for her." Helena thought about Whisper's fighting capabilities and realised that there were virtually none, save for healing so she can see where Tulla is coming from.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

"I've never experienced her kind of Magick before but I could go through universal things with her, she still seems to be a Mage depsite her unusual powers," Zaddion glanced back to Tulla as she addressed him, he had been looking for an opportunity to test what she could do without Adrass breathing down his neck. Unfortunately, there were more problems than he would admit when it came to the proposal.

 

"She is also far older than most would start to properly learn, children are so much easier to teach. It could take years to teach her everything I know, perhaps even longer given her current lack of training. Even the most basic of concepts can take weeks of learning if one wants to use Magick properly." He neglected to mention that the only way he knew how to teach was how we was taught, and had no idea whether Whisper could take the pressure of his not cruel but relatively strict methods.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Sanctified Absence

[Shadow Dancer 111]

@@RunsWithSquirlz I nodded "Sure, it would be quite nice to see the princess, be able to do some things herself without relying on us probably make her feel better at least, talk to her about it if she is willing I will teach her."

 

@@Sanctified Absence

I took a breath and looked towards Zaddion, "Zaddion, that's your name if I recall, if you want me to share the basics of what I know about shadow magick I will, I'm not as proficient as some of the school taught assassins that possess shadow magick I know enough to get you to a level that will give you a base to learn more yourself." I went quiet and waited for his answer.