Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 12: *This Title has been stolen*

[Snowy_One]

Halton

It had been a long night of guard work for Anthony. Tasked with guarding the vault of his town, he had been up since the setting of the sun until it's rising. Standing before the cast iron door to the town vault, he had spent the night staring out into the same room of the town hall for several hours ever night. A room in which nothing ever changed. A stoic, boring, dull room. The type that could easily induce insanity within a man. What made it worse was that he had to do this every night, lest he fail in his task. It was a simple job though. Nothing major. Anthony had dreamed of one day saving up enough money to build his own personal estate like the one Damian owned only a short distance away. Some days, before he returned home to rest, he would catch himself sneaking near the glorious mansion with it's many rooms, wishing he could have been the one; born the son of one of the local hero's. But... He had something almost as good.

A girlfriend. Not just any girlfriend though. He had a very specific girlfriend. One whom would bring him fame and fortune! He was in love with Naelia the swift herself! The thought brought a thin smile to his face as he stood guard. He had managed to charm one of the six hero's! Two months ago, he had been at the local bar when he had stumbled into her, and it had been a whirlwind romance ever since. He would find her at nights and the pair would kiss. She had even told him that she would give up her thieving ways so that she could settle down as his wife! He doubted that was fully true, but even as a thief, she was a finer catch than almost any other woman within the town.

There was a faint sound, akin to silk sliding over polished rock. Anthony knew what it was though. Naelia had come for a visit. It wasn't unusual at all. In their romance, the girl had visited every third night to the vault. Anthony didn't mind at all, for her arrival was a break from the dull and boring drerium that was his job. It came as no surprise at all to him when her fingers slipped across his neck with a ghostly touch despite his having never seen her once in her approach. "Hello Naelia." he said simply with a smile. "May I have my wallet back?"

"Awww... Okay Anthony. Because I love you." came the female voice from behind him. Anthony felt a slight weight pressed into his hand a second later as she returned the object.

"What brings you here tonight, stealer of my heart?" he asked in a coy tone, poking fun at her profession. Her response was not something unusual however. He had come to expect it of the thief. "Steal your heart? Not yet." replied Naelia. Then, a second later, the lithe woman appeared before him. A thin smile crossed his face as he gazed upon her for the first time that night. Rather, her shadowed outline. The woman wore dark blue, as expected of a thief. That he could see little beyond her hazel eyes was not unusual. "I just wanted to see how you were doing Anthony."

"Thanks love. Ummm... Can I have my wallet back again?" he asked as he reached out to embrace her. "But it's so fun to keep stealing it from you!" came the tart response as she stepped forwards into his embrace.

Suddenly, searing pain shot through Anthony's entire body as bile welled up inside of him. His vision turned blurry as he dropped to his knee's. "Almost as fun as stealing your heart." came Naelia's coy response as she kneeled down to his level. In her left hand, she held the blood-stained organ, futilely pumping blood that spurted out onto the floor below. "I always hated you Anthony." she said, digging her fingers into the meat of the heart. "Hated you with a passion." Her nails pierced it fully and completely. "The only reason I dated you was so that I could see the look on your face when I did this!" she suddenly swung his heart at his own head, smacking him with it and too the ground. As he fell, she brought her foot over to step upon his heart, grinding it into his face with cruel malice as he entered the final stages of his death throws. Throughout it all, Naelia was smiling.

A second later, Anthony stopped thrashing about. It was over. He was dead. With a satisfied sigh, Naelia backed off the dead body. "Who to torment now? Ah! I know..." she said. A second later, she produced a legguard in her hand. Esphyr's leg guard. "Wily little bitch slapped me last night when I broke into the mansion. Her being asleep is not an excuse! Mmmm... I'm going to savor this!" she said with a grin as she turned to leave, the body of Anthony contorted onto the floor below.

---

Esphyr had been waiting outside for quite a while now. With a heavy sigh, she shifted her weight about. This was her lot in life. A mindless merc working for money. Irina wanted that? Then that's what she would get. That is wha-

"Hey!" Esphyr cursed mentally. One of the guards had finally taken notice of her. Walking over to her, she could feel his eyes roving up and down her as he spoke. An idiot man whom would seek to hit on her, possibly even attempt to hire her out. "You look like a mercenary!" She groaned. Here it comes...

"I want you to get the hell out of here! Now! Lord Damian doesn't need hired scum like you! He has us, his loyal guards!" Esphyr's eyebrow raised in shock. Not what she had expected to be sure. "Get out of here and never come back! We don't need people like you protecting him! The wyvern riders and soldiers he has with him will be enough! You hear me? You have till the count of three to start walking? Understand? One... Two..."

"I'm going. I'm going." said Esphyr, her tone put out and disappointed. Did Damian really want her gone as well? Or was it just a idiot soldier being a idiot? Either way, she had no choice. As she picked up her sword, the soldier smiled at her. As she passed through the man gate, she gave a quick look back, a muttered prayer under her breath. 'Goddess, please let Damian come for me.' she asked as she gave a sigh. If he didn't she would need work. If he... If he... If... No. No. Esphyr gave a quick shake of her head. She had to ignore it, the ache of her heart as she slowly walked away from the place. Ignor... Ig...

...

Once she was out of sight of the manor, she collapsed to her knees, tears upon her cheek. This would not be as easy as getting over any other employer. Not at all.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Snowy_One

[Dark Sage]

"Well? What's the verdict?" asked Alferis to the HM. She was a very wise and knowledgeable woman as he could see. He only hoped that she would believe Reika. The evidence of the mushroom and her explanation confirmed everything about Pary.

He hated men like Pary. They were why he was kicked out of the rebel group in the first place. He hated self righteous snakes lie Pary. They always preyed on the weak and acted big, but when the chips were down, they'd drop and run.

[Snowy_One]

"Well, with a vouch for her word and the mushroom in her hand as evidence, it seems likely that her story is true. I... I would be thrown out of any proper court of law for that, but it's as best as I can see it."

[Dark Sage]

"Right. So as we can see, you can get lost Pary. And don't follow us again."

[Inactive Account]

Hearing the arguing up ahead start to die down, Kelas wondered aloud, "They done yet? I heard we were supposed to get going, but they don't really sound like they're anywhere near ready..."

--------------------------------

Something small and orange hopped from a nearby sculpture onto Arrin's shoulder, startling him out of his daze. "Hello, cat," he mumbled. "Right, I was supposed to be getting ready to go..." He turned to head back to collect his packs.

[Psych]

"I don't know anything about mushrooms. I know a few healing herbs, but what's to say your partner in crime here didn't get it out of the woods? You two seem to be the only ones who have a problem with me. I should be fearing for my life. You'll probably kill me in my sleep. "

----------------

Cess examined the maps. Some told of swamps to the south, others lakes, and one woods even. None of them agreed. But wait! This one, could it be the one? It had a small cross surrounded by flowers. Almost immpossible to see. "Headmaster, take a look at this! I think I found it!"

[Dark Sage]

"Because you haven't helped your case at all. Anyone doesn't have a problem? Everyone does! You're either blind, or stupid."

[Psych]

"Still have a problem. You're holding a baseless grudge. I know nothing of the mushroom. The rest of the group doesn't seem to like this girl very well. What's to say she didn't try on her own, and you two need a quick patsy to frame for it? My claims are exactly like yours. Claims. So I think it would be in the best intrest of everyone to just drop it."

[Dark Sage]

"But that's the thing. The evidence is overwhelming. You tried to beat us up and extort us. It'd be best for us if you get lost. Anyone agree with me?"

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso: Forget what I said, Kelas. Let's not get involved in this mess. I'm going to go in there to haul Irina and Katie out, and then it would probably be best to pack our things.

Irina Viveka Levski Lucille and Jasmine

Viveka: You know, I have an idea. Let's take the priest with us.

Lev: That's your plan? You just countered your previous argument with "let's go ahead and do it" :/

[Dark Sage]

"What? Why?!" Alferis asked Viveka.

[Phoenix]

Irina Viveka Levski Lucille and Jasmine

Viveka: As I said to the cleric girl ... battlefield attrition is a part of all wars. You're going to lose people on the battlefield eventually no matter what you do. Since he's not truly a man of the cloth, and since he insists on coming with us, we may as well use him as a meat shield ... you know ... offset attrition a little bit.

Lev: ... evil kitty <_<

[Dark Sage]

"He'll find a way to screw us over."

[Snowy_One]

"As far as I know, this is a island mushroom. She couldn't have picked this out of the woods. It doesn't grow there. That's how we know she didn't pick it out there." said the headmaster.

[Phoenix]

EDIT: OOC: Snowy edit the title :/

Irina Viveka Levski Lucille and Jasmine

Viveka: You make it sound as if he won't be constantly bound and gagged :/

Lev: Okay what is with you? I had no idea you were this sadistic.

Viveka: I'm not sadistic, I just don't really care what happens to certain people. That's not sadistic ... that's simply not caring either way.

Lev: (Oh right she was making some serious threats to me not long ago. It's stopped now so I sort of forgot. Whew, this chick'll kill anyone if she's got a warrant won't she? Hahah!)

Edited July 8, 2010 by Phoenix

[Psych]

OOC:Snowy respond to Cess.

"I've never even been to any islands so there! This is turning into a witch hunt. These two won't stop until I'm six feet under."

-----------

Cess took the map and stood up. He walked over to the argument, and held the map in front of the headmaster's face. "Is this it? I think I found the graveyard."

[Snowy_One]

"Has Rekia been to any islands then? If she has, than she could have picked it, except it's fresh. I doubt it would have been preserved. Unless she was at once and came right here, I don't think it possible for her to have preserved it. So either Pary brought it, or she bought it. AND STOP SHOVING MAPS IN MY FACE!" exclaimed the HM, turning to Cess. "Sorry. Anyways, let me have a look... Ummm... This is a map to a graveyard, does it say where it is supposed to be of though?"

[Psych]

Cess:

"I think it's this little grave marker here. It's surrounded by flowers. I know it's hard to see, but every other map disagrees about this region. I'd say it's our best bet."

[Snowy_One]

"They disagree? Then either this map is lying, or they are. It's not impossible for a person to simply have misunderstood that the graveyard is a ruined city, but still... Do you have the other maps?"

[Psych]

"They're over here on the table. I pulled them from Damian's library. But it's only that region. That one has the grave marker, but others have swamps, lakes, woods. One even says there's a village there. It's strange. Was there any sort of protection to mask the city from mortals when the dragons were still around?"

[Snowy_One]

"I wasn't alive when it was around." said the headmaster. "I never had a chance to see it, and records are vague at best. The only person I can think of who would know is Helenos, and that's out for obvious reasons. It's a crap shoot either way though."

[Balcerzak]

Tessa had quickly realized that she'd forgotten to give Arrin his cloak back and wasn't quite was sure to do with it. She set it aside for the moment, changed shirts, and packed up. Then she spent awhile trying to figure out whether she should pack the cloak up as well, and return it to him after they were on the road again, or whether to simply continue wearing it around.

It was a rather nice cloak. It had done its job well, and had a rather pleasant smell to it, vaguely reminding her of a pleasant breeze over dusty plains, or something. Somehow, it ended up wrapped around her shoulders again, and content that the matte had settled itself she quickly headed off back to the dining hall where the rest of the group were still congregated.

...Or rather that had been her intention, but she wound up standing in front of the armory with a confused look on her face. Backtracking a bit, she tracked down one of the manor servants, an elderly gentleman, and asked for directions. She'd changed her mind about the destination, deciding instead to go visit Trevor at the stables. She hadn't yet seen him this morning, and that really should be corrected. Besides, with all the time spent trying to console Kelas, and then wasting away a bit more chatting with Arrin, and then having once again gotten turned around in the estate (Seriously, Damian, why did your father build this like some sort of maze...) it was possible that everyone else were already gathered and ready to depart.

The servant was kind and polite, but actually insisted on not only giving directions, but actually escorting her. Tessa wasn't really sure why he was being so nice, but she made sure to thank the man profusely when they'd arrived, before running off to hug her horse. Nobody else actually seemed to be around, but since the other mounts were all still stabled it seemed that her fears of holding everyone back were utterly misguided.

After giving Trevor a nice 'good morning' grooming and a little treat, she decided it might be nice to take a small ride around, while waiting for the others to finish up whatever was currently going on. She had thought that the consensus had been to try to head to the dragon's graveyard, but maybe that was just her wishful thinking in wanting to see the place. Then again, there was the fact that it was quite some distance away, so maybe they were planning out intermediate stops?

Before saddling up, she stopped over by Amari, who had already been dried off from the escapade in the lake. Striking up a conversation with the mare, Tessa said, "Okay, now... how to say this. Your master's probably feeling kind of down, so I want you to take especially good care of her today. Can you do that for me?" She presented a carrot as a means of hopefully sealing the bargain, which the mare happily accepted before nickering back. Knowing the horse, Tessa felt pretty sure it was saying something like Foolish human, I'd make sure to handle my human even without the bribe.

With that out of the way, she mounted Trevor, and they went off for a ride around the estate. She thought she saw someone leaving from the main gate, but when she blinked and rubbed her eyes before looking again, the figure was gone. "Huh, wonder if I should follow up on that," she mumbled to herself.

[Dark Sage]

"So now you frame Reika huh? That's cold man. That's cold. If there's one thing I hate, it's a person who's cruel to women."

[-Cynthia-]

"Not to be overly judgmental here, but didn't Reika try to kill group members in the past?" Charlotte asked. "It does not seem inconceivable that she would try to do so again."

[Dark Sage]

"No, but the only way Reika could've gotten the mushroom is to be given it. How would she know what it would do unless she was told? I doubt she'd seek it on her own."