private The Fall of Andalasia ~Book 1~

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I quietly sighed, knowing the damn Flow Dancer was correct his abilities would be useful to the party and with how tired we were we would have been dead if he wished. I looked at Helena and said, " Lower your crossbow. The Flow Dancer's right, we don't know what's in that forest and he could be a good early warning system.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Whisper blushed furiously, holding the rose trinket in front of her and keeping Clarke behind her and Tugg.

 

"It's been over a hundred years since a Life mage has been born, most of what I can do or take has been lost in time and old burned books..."

 

Could she trust this man? Clarke had been the only one of them to possess the knowledge of how to travel through Ashcreek. The closer and longer she stood near the gnarled trees of the forest, the more out of place she felt. But if what the Flow Dancer said was true, Clarke was there. The forest took him and she was determined to bring him back. They would all get to Illia.

 

Whisper looked at Helena and Indicus, then back at Lance.

 

"You'll be our guide...but you will stay with Adrass and he will keep an eye on you. Helena, keep an eye on his every movement while I heal the party...and you Lance. I'll take care of your hand once we make it through the forest."

 

Tugg growled deeply, embers drifting down his metal beak.

[Sekel 694]

@@RunsWithSquirlz

"I'm already doing that." Helena replied as she kept a close eye on Lance. She didn't bother lowering her crossbow as it made her feel safe and sh knew how to quickly use it if he didn't do anything she liked. Helena was opposed to the idea of him leading them through the forest but it seemed like they didn't have any other choice in the matter, especially since Whisper agreed to let him lead them.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Dji,@@RunsWithSquirlz, @@Shadow Dancer, @@Torrent505,

"I don't like this. Not. One. Bit." Dresden said crossing his arms glaring at Lance, as much as he would hate to admit the damn Flow Dancer spoke true only Lance and Clarke know the way though the forest but since Clarke is a little busy they have no choice but to listing to Lance; no matter how much Dresden wants to drown him. "So, while were getting "friendly with each other I'm going to see if I can put out the fire before our clothes have burned and left us to walk a scary forest with only our under-where on." With that Dresden turned backed to the inn to get started.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

He was useless... Absolutely useless and he hated himself for it. The plan was working so perfectly, even with the odds stacked against them Zaddion still had the time to save the Princess and in turn rescue everyone else, that is until he felt it. Whatever it was, the feeling was akin to Dark Magick only more painful. It was like feeling the exact opposite of Whisper's healing Magick, little did he know it was coming from the same source. If the Mage's Magickal senses weren't so open, if he hadn't let his mental 'defences' down then he might'e been able to carry on. His sixth sense was completely overwhelmed by whatever lingering Death was in the air, driving him into a near state of shock at the sudden change. If it weren't for the bird acting as a Shadow Focus for him he would've...

 

That was all in the recent past now, and were he in a better state he would've tended to the present. His robes, were torn and burned in multiple areas, though the worst injury on himself was self-inflicted by the Mark. He could only sit there, fatigued, mentally exhausted, mildly wounded and above all horrified at what he felt. At least fate had been kind enough to see him somewhere safe from the ongoing blaze, but it had also left him with Whisper... Mentally naive and rather uneducated in her gift, but possessing of a dark power far beyond his natural capabilities hiding within that innocent frame, only now did he understand this.

[Torrent505 370]

@@RunsWithSquirlz @@Dji @@Alex Kennedy @@Sanctified Absence @@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

"I wouldn't dare going into the forest until the sun is at midday, the predators are worst at the forests edge. So best to be able to see them, once we get deeper in they won't dare to follow and it won't matter time of day it is to the evil that dwells their." Lance stared into the woods for a moment eyes distant before refocusing on Whisper, "So of course Princess tend to your parties needs firs, everyone should be in their finest conditions for a journey like this. But I do mean everyone, so I'll need to insist you give me my 'handjob' tonight instead of later."

 

He lifted the arm out of his cloak where he'd been trying to hide it, his body was trembling slightly though he tried with all his might not to. The mess of a hand was swollen and blue do to a rope he had tied further up to stop the bleeding, flesh hung loose from where it had been torn asunder and bones remained exposed to open air. It was slathered in a foul smelling green goo meant to be an antiseptic and healing cream. Lance had never been hurt like this before, even with the large amount of anesthetic's he'd injected himself with it gave dull aching throbs; insult to injury as a flow dancer he felt the pain twice over in a way that could not be numbed. His need for bravado and strength in front of potential enemies or allies was all that kept him from breaking down to weeping and sobbing over it as he'd been doing in the stables loft before the Tinkerer had stumble in.

 

Focused on the wound as he was now he couldn't keep his voice from trembling a little, "I don't have the means to numb the pain the entire trip, and I'm no healer but I doubt it will last that long anyways... Take care of me now and I swear Princess I won't breathe a word to a soul about how good you're hand work was at giving me relief." He tired to give that cocky smirk and suggestive wink but it looked more like a grimace and pained twitch. "I mean I'm just asking that you give me a hand here..."

Edited November 5, 2014 by Torrent505

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

She frowned at Lance, the innuendos flying over her head. She whispered to Tugg and he scooped up Clarkes unconscious body onto his back.

 

The princess made her rounds, healing up thier wounds and finally returning to Adrass. She said nothing as she concentrated on his wounds.

 

Tulla heaved herself off the ground and went to sit on a boulder, covering her face with her hands. The initial shock and adrenaline had worn off and left her weak. At this point, all she wanted was to wash all the blood off her skin.

 

As Dresden doused the Inn, the fire crackled and faded away, leaving a smoking pile of wood and rubble.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I felt the pain wash away and my injuries heal all except for my eye, well it healed but I still was unable to see. I figured I could get used to it, I could still see out my other eye and use my magic to see everything else.

 

(Doing this because I wanted the whole lost his sight thing to not just be magicked away.)

[Flying Ace 142]

@@RunsWithSquirlz,

Dresden wiped his hands together as the fire died out leaving nothing but a smoking pile of wood and rubble, "Yeah, I don't think any of our stuff made it." Dresden turned to get a quick look at his group...and Lance, and they all felt the same way he did; tired. Dresden put his hands on his hips and looked down, they didn't seem to catch a break anywhere what would even happen if they made it to Illium? Knowing that the Iron Maiden was there.

 

Dresden kicked at the ground in frustration, mostly due to the fact that their only hope to surviving the woods was in the hands of the same guy who tried to kill them minuets ago! Dresden exhaled and inhaled to try to calm his nerves, then went over to Tulla who had found a spot on a boulder. "Hey do you need any help getting that blood off you?"

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

She gave him a weak smile "Yeah, I'd love that." Tulla stripped off her fur bracers and let them fall into the dirt. The bear hide was matted with blood and ash. She held out her arms to aignal she was ready to be doused "Try not to blast me or anything, it's as cold as a Windigos ass out here."

 

Whisper cracked her fingers and checked the rest of Adrass, his wounds had healed, leaving light scars in some places "I'm glad you're back...even though you might not be."

 

Tugg shrugged Clarke into his cart and aniffed him, why the human chose now to nap was beyond him. But he learned that these pink things were strange creatures.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

Eventually Robert returned to being fully conscious, with a relatively good idea of what was going on. He figured he could piece together the rest later, at any rate. Since he was without his lute, he tried drumming on his knees for a bit. It wasn't the same.

 

((Mostly just posting so everyone knows I'm still alive.))

[Flying Ace 142]

@@RunsWithSquirlz,

"Well, that won't pressure me into accidentally blasting you ." Dresden gave a small chuckle as he summoned a small amount of water in each palm of his hands. "Brace yourself this will feel like a Windigos' ass." Dresden soon got to work washing the blood and bits of some unlucky bastard off her arms. "By the way I have a question if your humor me," Dresden took a quick glance to make sure no one could hear. "Have you noticed that there seems to be Romance happening between some of our friends?" Dresden asked with a smile at the gossip.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Tulla raised an eyebrow at Dresden, goosebumps prickling her arms "Romance...? Wha...?"

 

She glanced around at the others "Well, Whisper looks smitten...Robert and Helena, well I might not call that romance but yeah. I can't imagine the rest of these sods with a woman. What about you? Leave a lover behind?"

[Flying Ace 142]

@@RunsWithSquirlz, 

"Me? Oh no, as hard as it is to believe I've never really had a lover it was one of those things I didn't purse; though...I did have a crush on someone when I lived in the orphanage. Both of us we're orphans and I would have talked to her but...well I discovered what I could do and left for bigger things and I never turned back. As far as I know she probably found someone better." 'If she even survived...' "What about you? Is there a secret lover at back at the castle?"

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

"No. I was rarely ever approached. Maybe because I always smelled like the stables, or maybe it was the King." She scrubbes flakes of blood off.

 

"He was always very protective of me, even though the lady Queen didn't seem to approve."

 

Maybe someone did show interest once, but Tulla had never noticed as such.

[Sanctified Absence 126]

Zaddion's state was somewhat soothed as he saw Dresden's use of Magick. Whether or not it was his doing, this Water Mage was really the first one who he'd ever helped in the use of their Magickal gifts. Unfortunately he no longer had time to help the others along in such ways, there was a far greater and more dangerous Mage amongst them. 

 

Whisper couldn't exercise control over her Magick as far as he knew, which combined with her Affinity for what he now had to accept was Life and Death made her very deadly to be around. It was a miracle her Magick hadn't destroyed one or two of them in all this time she had been amongst them. Once he got over his fear, he would have to teach her the best he could. Her Magick needed to be focused on as much as possible now, which would mean her other lessons being diminished in length and frequency... But what if Adrass or the others didn't understand? What if the rest of them didn't see that her very presence is a danger in this state?  

Edited November 8, 2014 by Sanctified Absence

[Flying Ace 142]

@@RunsWithSquirlz,

"Yeah I can see how that would scare off some people," Dresden gave a small chuckle as the water left Tulla's arm and evaporated into nothing. "Well, I seem to have gotten all the blood off of you as far as I can see, but let me know if I missed a spot; it seems cleaning blood is one of my specialty." 

[Sekel 694]

@@Alex Kennedy

"Hey Robert! Catch!" Helena said and without waiting for an answer, she carefully took his lute out of her quiver and tossed it towards him.

@@Torrent505

Helena walked closer to the man but was careful to keep her crossbow trained on him. She looked around at the others and saw Dresden washing Tulla of blood, Robert sitting up and silently strumming his fingers against his leg, Adrass and Zaddion nursing wounds which Whisper was currently healing. "Lance, right? Why do you want to help us so badly? And if you say another innuendo then I will put a bolt through your arm. The same one with the broken hand."

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

@@Dji, 

 

Robert wasn't really paying attention, and the lute whacked him in the head. Still, he was too happy to have it back to really care. "Wha-? Thanks! I was missing this thing already. Makes my magic a lot easier to use, too. I promise I'll repay you for this somehow."

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

"Don't be foolish princess. Your witchcraft cannot... cannot..."

 

Adrass faltered: words failing him as the effects of the healing began to take hold of his body - as foul and unnatural energy began to work its way into his flesh, blood and bone. He was being enchanted, and he wasn't happy about it. There was something wrong - even in his weakened state, spellcraft like this shouldn't have effected him... not like this, not to this extent!

 

'What are you, princess?' He wondered: biting his tongue in favour of uttering a litany of curses at the young girl. He felt disgusted: tainted even, but there was nothing to be gained now. He would simply have to improve his resolve - the princess had revealed some kind of weakness in his mental armour and he would be sure to learn to guard it.

 

"We're still being followed." He said, both to keep his mind off the subject and to ensure he didn't neglect to mention the matter. "I don't know who or how many, but we should watch out backs. I never even saw them - couldn't track them or feel any magic. They ambushed me - javelins out of the bushes of all things, coming from every direction. I barely got away. The sooner we move on, the better."

[Torrent505 370]

@@RunsWithSquirlz @@Dji @@Alex Kennedy @@Sanctified Absence @@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

Lance sighed and muttered a curse under his breathe as the princess merely frowned at him and walked away without healing his hand. He really wondered if she wasn't going to budge on the subject. All it was going to do was lessen their chances in the woods, well he wasn't going to lead them unless she at least healed him enough so it didn't hurt. He could deal being one handed but not with being in constant pain too.

 

And here was this girl threatening him again. He sigh addressing her as evenly as he could manage, "Sweetheart, the only thing shooting me is going to do is make it even harder for us to get through the forest alive." He huffed a little before deflating and speaking in a more whispered tone, "Look, I didn't have any choice in what happened to all of you in there. It's the life forced on me, if those women in their so much as found out that I like women as much as men then would have taken what makes me a man. I'm just a slave in service to a very, very powerful lady with allies that you can't escape. I'm pampered and well taken care of but I'm still just property."

 

He pulled open the front of his tunic to show what looked like a tattoo of a lipstick kiss just below his collarbone, "That's her mark. I was here on loan to make sure the Madame paid back a debt to Lady Valentine, obviously because of your group that's not going to happen now. Worse than that Madame took the horses and has a head start to go and report what happened. I need to get through those woods if I'm to have any chance of reporting before her. Everything depends on that, they'll probably believe however reports first and if I get blamed for THIS-" he gestures wildly at the smoking inn, "... Well they'd take my balls for finding women attractive, what do you think they'll do if they think I failed? That's the reason I need all of you, my life depends on it, and with the woods your lives depend on me; we need each other so please lower the crossbow. Honey."

 

He stalked away to slump down next to the stables solemnly. Staring over at the mostly nude men did make him smirk again though. He tried to cheer himself back up and called to them, "It wouldn't do anyone any good to try and make it through the forest in your skivvies like that! No matter how much I might enjoy it. We didn't have time to store you're stuff, but we have a bunch of things stored up in the barns loft from other previous... customers. Some of the stuff should fit each of you, there's no gold or silver the Madame took all of that, but consider whatever you want a refund for the dissatisfaction of your experience at Heart's Desire Inn."

[Sekel 694]

@@Torrent505

Helena did as said but if need be, she could whip it out extremely fast. "Don't call me Honey." Helena muttered darkly and stood a few feet away from him. "So what can you do that allows to go though Ashcreek and back multiple times? It's gotta be something powerful to make it through the woods and back." Helena asked curiously.

[Torrent505 370]

@@Dji

 

Lance stared at Helena, "You're so sweet though, how could I resist? Honnneeyyy. Besides it's not like I know names to call any of you anyways, nor do I want to. No need to actually connect with any of you right?" He nods towards Whisper, "she's Princess" towards Clarke, "the dying one is Runt and you're definitely Honey now."

 

He smirked at the anger in her eyes but continued before she could interrupt, "As for my abilities as a flow dancer, take your hunter 'magic sense' and boost it by a hundred. In the forest it's not usually the beasts that kill you but something else... Energy... Spirits... moving about on it's own reaching out to take hold of you and dragging you're life force back deeper into the forest. Towards the town of Ashcreek, it's doesn't always put you into a coma like it did to the Runt either, most of the time the victims walk away willingly to their doom. The Runt's only got about 3 dead until his body dies anyways, I can see the stream of energy connecting him to forest slowly sucking his life force out. I'm the only one that can help you avoid a fate like his."

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

@@Torrent505,@@Dji,

 

Robert got up and glared at Lance. "If she doesn't want to be called Honey, don't call her Honey. Show some respect. Even I can do that much." He shook his head. "Anyway, your lackluster roguish casanova act aside, what's this about stuff in the barn? Not that I really trust you anyway, but wouldn't you have this stuff locked away or something? Can we just walk in and take it?"

[Sekel 694]

@@Torrent505

Helena stuck her tongue out in disgust at him when Lance called her Honey again. "Do I really have to keep telling you to not call me 'Honey'?" Helena asked sarcastically and walked over to the barn. "You sure we can take whatever we want? It's like what the Bard said. Shouldn't you have had this ... nevermind. I understand why the stuff isn't at the inn." Helena answered her own question by looking at the burnt in.