Firekeeper's World: Inside a Copse and Beyond, After the Last
[Continued from here and then here.]
They'd all agreed that waiting until they'd had a full night's rest to enact their plan was for the best. The horses were grazing in the garden, which was secure enough that they could remain there if the humans and yarimaimalom had a chance to go through the gate.
Merlin and Lovable had gone to take care of the alarm, while the others took up defensive positions.
Merlin
With the plan set and a night's rest for everyone, Merlin and Lovable were back in the copse and ready to see if this would even work.
He nodded once to the bird, crouching down with his hands on the ground. "Just one--" A flash of gold in his Sueish eyes and the beasts were stirring and promptly crushed by what they had set up yesterday. "--now."
Firekeeper
With that, Lovable took wing and was within the courtyard in moments:
"It is done! The bracken beasts are felled with the tree trunks. They wriggle like worms, but are broken beyond repair!"
"He is done," Firekeeper reported to the others, bending her bow and fitting the string. "Bracken beasts is felled." She tested the bow's pull, then relaxed it, keeping an arrow in hand, prepared for whatever may come through the gate.
Francine
If Francine were any girl but Francine, she might have had a problem with being told to stay the hell out of the way in slightly more chivalrous terms, but she wasn't. Out of the way in this case was beside Eshinarvash, the Wise Horse able to defend her if whoever came through should make it to the door of the Keep, without taking any of the seasoned fighters from the front line.
Still, she was watching through that open door, ready to help if she could.
You know, somehow. Possibly by pointing and yelling 'Him, kick him.'
Arthur
Well, that kind of spirited comment would certainly help keep up morale.
For Arthur's part, he was rather glad to have been taken during a hunting trip at this point, because at least it meant he had his crossbow at his side. Or, as it stood now, pointed towards the gate, moving swiftly from its previously prone position to threaten it as needed.
"Is everyone set and ready?"
... He knew Firekeeper was in charge. Honest.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian, who had readily admitted to not being the best of fighters, gave a nod from his own position back further from the gate, not quite as far away as Francine but still well out of the general area where any fighting was likely to take place.
Derian
Derian stood closer, and though he wore his sword at his side, the weapon he held in hand was a club. Truth and Blind Seer, meanwhile, were poised at either side of the gate.
Merlin
Merlin ran like the flaily boy he was back to the group, coming up next to Arthur for the fight. "No other beasts I saw."
Firekeeper
"Nothing happen here y-," Firekeeper began to say, which was of course when the grey stone on the wall began to transform into a shimmering silver.
Shapes began to form within the silver: at first, an blob which then separated and became distinct shapes. Two groups of... something, and then four distinct entities, walking in pairs.
Firekeeper readied her bow, blood quickening with excitement and dread.
Arthur
Arthur's fingers would have tightened on his crossbow if his training hadn't been better. The first shape, mysterious as it was, quickly gained form. Two men, one of them like himself - or Blysse's Derian - a warrior beyond a shadow of a doubt, with his heavy armor finding its twin in his companion's, whose shade was decidedly more like physician Martha's.
But this was not the time to bring up the good physician. Arthur opened his mouth, ready to demand that the newcomers drop their clubs (at least it was a short-ranged weapon) when he caught sight of the next two, robed figures carrying satchels.
They reminded him of druids.
He raised his crossbow higher to catch them in his sights. Magic users were always dangerous; this time, the danger was pointed at them.
The Once Dead
The features of those two shifted from blank alertness to alarm as they realized they hadn't entered the quiet sanctuary they had clearly expected. Satchels were dropped as they fumbled for their weapons.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper, on the other hand, had been prepared for this moment. She fired, her arrow slicing through the air and landing in the thick leather padding over the dark-skinned man's right shoulder. He bellowed something, and dropped his club.
Merlin
Staying where he was, Merlin crouched down to try and get the plants to listen to him once again. It was more difficult than thought without something to follow first.
But his eyes were gold and he was muttering something under his breath to get the terrifying response of...
...the plants swaying slightly to the left. Damn it.
Derian
"Drop your weapons!" Derian yelled in Liglimosh, the language they had thought most likely to be understood.
Arthur
The tone of Derian's voice suggested what he was hollering, even if Arthur couldn't identify the actual language.
He was going to be a help in motivating exactly why they should be following Derian's command-- by yanking the trigger of his crossbow back, a bolt burrowing itself perfectly aimed in the other warrior's arm. Just by the shoulder, just in a weak, unarmored spot.
It was a good shot.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper fired again, this time slicing the arm of one of those without armor. This one cried out in a high voice that made Firekeeper realize they were probably female. If these humans were like most she'd met, the males would feel more alarm at damage to the female member of their company than to another male. .
Lachen
The man who'd been standing behind the warriors had noticed Merlin's muttering, and the subsequent... moving of the plants. Which is why he was now reaching for a canteen by his side. He sprinkled a few drops of liquid- dark and copper-scented, it was clearly blood- on the ground and muttered a few words, causing the ground to shake slightly.
Merlin
Oh no. No, no, no. That was a very bad thing to have happen with everyone here.
"Swá hércyme hit endedæg þæs cleadur. Hércyme endedæg þæs cleadur, hércyme endedæg þæs cleadur."
Merlin's jaw set and he slammed both hands down on the ground, bringing great chunks of earth up around the man and woman, encircling them as the ground rumbled.
He... really hadn't known that was even possible. So if he looked just a bit surprised, it may be best to forgive.
Derian
"Do you surrender?" Derian called out in Liglimosh, working hard to keep his voice steady after witnessing such a display of magic.
Lachen
The male of the pair Merlin had trapped shouted something in an unfamiliar language that caused the warriors to drop their weapons and stand still.
"We have surrendered," he told Derian. "Will you have these heads?"
Derian
"Do you speak Pellish?" Derian asked in that tongue. It would make things easier for the outlanders if the prisoners spoke a language they shared. At a nod from the female, Derian continued: "I said we would spare you, but I warn you: break your surrender and we will show no mercy."
Arthur
Arthur had lowered his crossbow, but his eyes were still narrowed. Disarmed in some ways, yes, but it in all? He approached one of the warriors with careful steps, after casting a look back at Derian. "And you'd best not hold any ideas about treason in your hearts," he said, idly, his free hand back on his sword.
Eshinarvash
At the sight of the newcomers standing down - or being bound down in the case of the ones Merlin had trapped, Eshinarvash moved out the door into the garden.
Francine
Francine followed - as much as she might have liked to stay safely ensconced in the stone corridor, she was stupidly equally determined to be part of this, instead of the helpless one who got brought along for the ride because she happened to be... along for the ride.
Harjeedian was already striding forward from his position at the rear to join the others; Francine hung back behind him as he approached the man Arthur had addressed.
Harjeedian
"You will come with us to be questioned," Harjeedian said in tones more formal and priestly than he'd used on any of Firekeeper's friends. "If the answers please us, then perhaps we will tend to the injuries you have so deserved."
The Twice Dead
The two men in armor, the ones who had carried weapons, glanced to the two in robes for orders.
Lachen
"We will go," said the taller of the robed ones, the male, with a slow nod. "If your spellcaster will free us to do so."
Merlin
"Um." Merlin looked at the blocks of earth. "Right."
Shit.
"I'll move those now." If he COULD. Kneeling again, he very slowly moved things back to whe
Derian
"Leave your gear here," Derian ordered the prisoners. Who knew what sort of weapon they might have hidden within that might be reached for in one careless moment.
The paler of the two warriors looked as if he might protest, but Derian inclined his head towards Firekeeper's tightly-drawn bowstring. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. She's just a little crazy."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper thought she heard the man mutter "a little?" as they moved towards the campfire, but the comment didn't offend her.
The two magic-users sat first, and though the warriors resisted following suit for a moment, the dull twang as Firekeeper casually plucked her bow string soon convinced them otherwise.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian took the initiative to begin questioning them, his accents still formal and cold. "I am the aridisdu Harjeedian, of u-Nahal in Liglim, he began. You are?" The tone held only bored good manners, not the least hint of curiosity.
Lachen
The male sorcerer was obviously offended. "I am the Once Dead Lachen; my companion is the Once Dead Ynamynet. We are served by Verul and Skea of the Twice Dead."
Arthur
That was nice and... not at all informative.
"Is Once Dead a title of some kind?" Arthur inquired, raising his chin in recognition of the man for a split second. Perhaps he should have introduced himself first, but Harjeedian had taken most of that responsibility.
Besides, he knew very little about this place (beyond that it seemed close to home) and it might be something one of his companions already knew.
Lachen
"It means," Lachen replied, throwing a look towards the Twice Dead that was clearly contemptuous, "that the fire of querinalo did not succeed in stealing magic from me. Unlike those who chose to let it burn away." A reply that served to both answer Arthur's question and raise more, since none of them were familiar with the term "querinalo" either.
Merlin
"Querinalo?" Merlin asked quietly. Because stealing magic wasn't exactly somethign he wanted to hear. Um, ever.
Ynamynet
"Perhaps you call it something else?" Ynamynet supplied, not knowing that some of her captors weren't of this world. "Divine Retribution?"
Firekeeper
"Fire Plague," Firekeeper nodded in understanding, hoping that Merlin remembered the conversation they'd had about it moonspans ago. "But Plague run its course hundreds of years ago," she frowned.
Ynamynet
Ynamynet exchanged an unreadable glance with her companion before answering. "In some parts of the Old World, it may still be found. We who survived it with our power intact are the Once Dead. Those--" She pointed to Verul and Skea. "--did not." There was none of the scorn in her voice that had been present in Lachen's, just the flat, neutral tone of facts relayed as ordered.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian's expression remained impassive as this information was shared. "Very good. Now, unless you're interested in becoming permanently dead, you will answer my questions. A member of our company, one called Plik, was taken from us. We have tracked him to this place, and know that from here he was taken far hence. We wish him back."
Skea
The darker warrior - Skea - spoke, but only after a look to the woman, who held her hand to her injured arm, pressing the fabric of the robe over the cut as a makeshift bandage. "Short, fat, round. Very strange. I know where this Plik is kept."
Harjeedian
"And do you know how to open the way between this place and that?" This, he directed mostly at the Once Dead.
Lachen
Lachen glared in silence until Ynamynet opened her mouth to speak; then he cut her off. "A small wound and you would betray our secrets to these?" he hissed at her.
Ynamynet
Ynamynet jerked her head towards Firekeeper's bow, towards Arthur's sword. "They would not remain small. What good would our dying do, or our pain? Blood is to be shed for use, not to stain stone."
Harjeedian
"Will you force us to make you an example to those who will come looking to see the reason for your failure?" Harjeedian asked, face impassive enough that even his companions couldn't be sure if he was bluffing.
Lachen
It may have been that single word, 'failure,' that melted through Lachen's remaining resistance. He bent, head in hands. "I suppose we have no choice."
Merlin
Arms crossed over his chest as though that would somehow make him more intimidating, Merlin frowned. "How? Show me."
Lachen
His appearance, not so much. What he had done by surrounding them with earth, though, had been impressive. It didn't stop Lachen from shaking his head, however.
"We can show you, yes, but we shall have to open the gate ourselves; it is not easily done."
Ynamynet
"You will, however, need to provide us with the... fuel. Blood." Ynamynet chimed in.
Derian
"Great." Derian looked disgusted at the thought.
Francine
Okay, Francine had something to say to that. UM??"
Hey, we didn't say it was something intelligent. Cut her some slack, though; after this month, donating blood took on all sorts of nasty new meanings.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper was hardly pleased about the idea herself, but. "Blood here. How different from blood spilled there? We know we is to fight. We know we is maybe hurt. Still, we go." She shrugged.
Possibly not the most reassuring response, no.
Arthur
"There is no issue with our own blood spilled in a good cause," Arthur affirmed, but he sounded neither happy nor... whatever the opposite of suspicious was. "But I warn you that it best be paid towards our request, and not some act of betrayal. We have our own defenses."
He was the son of Uther. He would not let this go idly by.
Arthur
Eshinarvash stamped one hoof.
"I can give a great deal more blood without it weakening me than can you little human things. Does the blood need to come from each who travels through the gates, or can one or two give more?"
Firekeeper relayed the question to the Once Dead.
Ynamynet
Lachen looked mildly startled at the implication that the horse was an intelligent creature. Ynamynet recovered more quickly. "Yes, the horse's blood should do nicely. A smear from each of the rest of you shall suffice, so that the gate knows you."
Firekeeper
"How many can go through gate at one time?" Firekeeper asked.
Lachen
"We've never transported more than two at one time," Lachen admitted. "Changing that would mean reconfiguring the spell and, honestly? I don't know if it would work."
Firekeeper
"Then we go by twos," Firekeeper said with a nod. "We tie your feet and send you through with guard so you not think of getting to other side and then running fast away."
She gave each of the prisoners an assessing look, and then continued: "Truth and Harjeedian first. Then Merlin and Lachen, Arthur and Skea, Francine and Blind Seer, Derian and Verul, Eshinarvash and Smudge, Bitter and Lovable. You and me last," she told Ynamynet. Warrior with warrior, mage with mage, the weakest with those who could protect them. "This work for all?"
By 'all' of course, she meant those of her company. She cared little for what the prisoners thought of the arrangement.
Arthur
"Sounds like fun."
That might have almost sounded like a knuckle-crack, there, as Arthur considered his large, but by no means unbeatable, quarry.
Francine
Francine shot him a boys are weird look, but the very familiarity of that weirdness compared to this weirdness kept her calm enough to answer, "Oh yeah, fun like a trip to the circus," as she moved over to join Blind Seer.
The giant wolf was another island of this-shouldn't-make-me-feel-safe-but-it-does in a place that didn't, and she found herself slipping her fingers into the ruff of fur at his neck.
Merlin
Nodding once in understanding, Merlin puffed up a little bit more. Machismo was not only restricted to those carrying swords, you know.
"Let's go then," he replied.
He shot a quick look back at Francine, smiling in a way he hoped was encouraging.
Ynamynet
"We will begin as soon as we've collected enough blood," Ynamynet said with a nod, moving in Eshinarvash's direction. Derian followed closely, watching to see that they were careful and did nothing foolish like nick a tendon.
Lachen
"It is done," Lachen said finally. "Ready?"
Firekeeper
"Must not forget this," Firekeeper grinned a little, holding up a length of rope.
Lachen
"Of course," Lachen sighed. Clearly he'd been hoping they'd conveniently forget that part. "It will feel like fire for a moment as you step through, but the sensation will pass. You will find yourself in a small building on the other side. Make sure to move out of the way quickly to make room for those who follow you."
Within a few minutes, everyone save Firekeeper and Ynamynet were through.
Firekeeper
"Now, us," Firekeeper said to Ynamynet.
Ynamynet
"I'm not going to do it," the sorcerer said, folding her arms across her chest. "Why should I? My people are back where they should be, and you are here without allies. You can kill me if you like, but you cannot make me open the gate."
At Firekeeper's raised Fang, she simply shook her head.
"You're stuck here," Ynamynet continued. "And let me tell you why I'm so determined to hold out. I think they need you to lead them. That Harjeedian may have done most of the talking, but he's no war leader. In a fight, you or the blond would lead, and I saw how he deferred to you. The longer your friends wait for you to show up, the longer my people have to notice something is wrong. Our community isn't huge, but it's large enough to deal with the handful you've stranded there."
The Meddler
"Ynamynet's right, you know," said a voice from over by the well. The Meddler, more translucent than the last time he'd appeared, stood leaning against the stone. Ynamynet started, her momentary arrogance vanishing at the new voice.
"The others cannot succeed without you," he continued. "You are the One who gives your pack direction. Your friend Arthur might do in a pinch, but I think we can agree that there are certain advantages you have that he does not."
Firekeeper
It was, Firekeeper realized, all too true. She trusted Arthur's ability to get things done if she could not, but he had even less familiarity with the people here that she did, and could not speak to the yarimaimalom.
"You have some thought- some plan. Tell. Time is going."
The Meddler
"You need a sorcerer. The one you had counted on has refused. I happen to be a sorcerer, and now that the gate is primed, I can work the spell." She really should have expected the pause. And the smirk. "For a price. A favor to be redeemed at the time of my choosing.
Firekeeper
"Favor?"
The Meddler
"Something from you to me, nothing more. I swear that I won't involve another in any way, nor will I ask you to kill someone. I won't even ask you to stand by and let me kill someone."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper considered the offer. She didn't trust the Meddler, but couldn't see any other way.
"I give you this favor. Now, open this gate."
The Meddler
"Do you wish to take that woman with you? You know you can't trust her."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper shrugged. "Would be cruel to leave starve. I bring."
The Meddler
"Very well. I won't even ask an extra favor for transporting her. Consider it free of charge. Ready?" the Meddler asked.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper nodded, bound Ynamynet and steered her into place. At his signal, they stepped through the gate.
Francine
To say that things were getting more and more antsy on the other side of the gate the longer Firekeeper wasn't there... was something only Francine would do. And then all the medieval-type people would look at her funny, and she was nervous enough as it was, so she just thought it to herself.
When Firekeeper did come through, a bound and gagged Ynamynet shuffling before her, it was enough of a relief that she beat Derian to asking, "Firekeeper! What took you so long?"
Firekeeper
Firekeeper would never admit it out loud, but she was worried if something may have happened to her friends on the other end of the gate during her absence. So it was a great relief when she stepped through and everyone was there unharmed.
"This one," she jerked a thumb at Ynamynet. "She try a trick. But Meddler is better at tricking. He bring me through." But had not accompanied them on the journey, as far as could be seen. "Is all well?"
Merlin
Merlin smiled faintly at her, nothing more than a twitch of his lips. He nodded ahead of them taking a breath. "No one has noticed us as far as I can tell."
The 'so far' was left unsaid, of course.
Francine
Francine reached for his hand, something she'd been wanting to do since she stepped through the gate, but had held back from for some reason. With the relief that Firekeeper's crossing brought, she realized why: she hadn't wanted to look like she needed it. Even if she did.
"The ravens took off," she said, pointing into the sky with the other hand. The night sky -- yet again they'd stepped from daylight into darkness.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper nodded, seeking comfort of her own as she knelt and hugged Blind Seer's head close.
"They should return very soon," Blind Seer told her. "And then we can go."
"Some must stay here to guard gate and these," Firekeeper said, gesturing towards the prisoners.
Truth
"This island's air is filled with the reeks of blood and fear. I have no wish to have the one door out of here blocked from our use. Eshinarvash and I have discussed it; we will stay here," Truth offered, and Firekeeper translated for the rest of the group.
Derian
"I'll stay," Derian volunteered. "The horse -- Smudge, is it? -- will need someone to look after her anyhow."
Harjeedian
"I will remain behind as well," Harjeedian said. "Too many bodies will make moving quietly difficult."
Bitter and Lovable
It was at that moment that Lovable and Bitter returned. Once they'd settled themselves on Blind Seer's shoulders (a bit like very peculiar knights mounted for war, Firekeeper thought), they gave their report.
"We found the place," Lovable said."There is a high hedge into which that horrible blood briar is woven, but there is a gate in the hedge. A human guards the gate." She went on to describe the human's armor and weapons.
"Inside the hedge there are two small buildings," Bitter continued the report after his mate finished. "I looked in through the windows. Plik sleeps in the smaller of the two buildings. Two who must be the twins sleep in the other."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper translated this, sneaking a glance at Arthur as she did so. She was terribly curious about how he'd react to the ravens' scouting job.
Arthur
Arthur had sucked in his lower lip in thought; he'd sought no comfort, and given none in turn. It wasn't his part. He released it, returning Firekeeper's glance with a slight shift of his eyes in her direction.
"One guard," he said, "Unless the gate holds some other enchanted trap, it should not be too much effort to overwhelm him, or sneak past him."
His next look was intended for Francine. He wasn't happy that she was coming along with them on this quest, but he couldn't anticipate whether or not the portal would be safer than wherever they were headed.
"We should reclaim Plik before we do anything else."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper trusted Derian and Eshinarvash unconditionally. Harjeedian... it was hard to fully trust someone who'd once been your captor. And as far as Truth, well. She was a cat with a history of madness who was alternately distracted and annoyed by the outworlders' presence at the best of times. Which all added up to Francine's accompanying them being preferable to leaving her behind, at least in Firekeeper's thinking.
"Lovable will go over hedge and into house to wake him," Firekeeper said, the raven flapping off even as she spoke the words.
Merlin
Ahead of them was the single guard Arthur told them about. And he was... surprisingly unremarkable. Being in some different world, Merlin supposed he might have been obviously foreign or exotic, but nothing of that.
Just a man, walking about with the practiced ease of someone who had been and would be doing this for a very long time.
"I can distract him," Merlin offered.
Firekeeper
"Can you do so without hurting him?" Firekeeper requested. She had a bit of a soft spot for guards, having befriended many of them during her time at Eagle's Nest Castle. "Tie up, maybe?"
Merlin
"I was thinking of just drawing him away," Merlin replied. Because that always worked in Camelot. Because the guards were very very dim.
But don't tell Arthur that.
Firekeeper
"This may work," Firekeeper agreed. "But may also cause trouble if someone look and he not there. If we tie up, is harder to notice something being wrong until you get very close. And then..." she gestured to the weapons she and Arthur held, and Blind Seer bared his fangs.
Francine
"Also if you tie him up he won't double back and sneak up behind you at the worst possible moment."
What? She'd watched every episode of Bitterwoman ever. Bitterwoman tied a lot of people up.
Arthur
"Just incapacitate him," Arthur replied, "We don't have much time for discussion."
His eyes flicked to Firekeeper, then to the guard; his feet were already bringing him in just a step closer. "So unless you're going to drop something on him, Merlin...".
Merlin
"Not drop," Merlin replied, taking a breath and trying the grass again. This time it was... more of a wave to the side. Enough so to knock the poor man off his feet and grow up over him like rope, keeping the guard in place.
See, he only could do it when the dramatic moment was right.Or if they needed to end an episode.
Firekeeper
"It had also terribly conveniently knocked the keys to the gate to the ground. Firekeeper snatched them up and unlocked the gate, gesturing for the others to go through. A light glowed in the smaller of the two cottages, and she guessed that Lovable had succeeded in waking Plik.
Plik
That guess was correct, as the front door opened and a short, roundish figure came out to stand in the doorway. "Firekeeper, is that really you?"
Even in the dim light, it was clear that his face was not that of a human. As he stepped further out of the doorway, his appearance grew clearer: he resembled either a very short, fat man with a fat fluffy tail, or a raccoon who had become bipedal. His facial features reinforced the confusion. Although his nose was more like that of a raccoon, his mouth was a bit broader, like a man's.
Francine
Oh Francine, close your mouth. You've chatted with a talking felt frog and played dodgeball with a Klingon.
Mouth. Closed. Bright smile. "Um. Hi." Casual fail, FTW. But at least it was hard to sound too awkward when you were whispering.
Plik
"Hello," Plik replied, more than a little taken aback by the presence of so many strangers. "Who- never mind, it's not important. What are you doing here?"
Arthur
It wasn't human. Grand. That was just par for the course, and Arthur was not going to pay lip service to the fact that his life, as always, was turning out to be completely insane. "Rescuing you," he said, matter-of-factly, "So let's stop blabbing, shall we?"
Firekeeper
"Time enough for talk later," Firekeeper agreed. "Plik, you go wake twins. Tell them they are to come with us to open gate. I will hurt them if they refuse."
Plik
"Isende and Tiniel aren't my captors," the raccoon-man replied even as he nodded and turned towards their cottage. "I imagine they'll be as eager to leave as we are." He lifted the latch without announcing himself and disappeared into the small building.
There was silence from within, then the sounds of rustling and low but worried voices.
Firekeeper
It didn't take long for Firekeeper to become frustrated with standing around doing nothing, and so with Blind Seer at her side, she gestured for the others to follow her as she barged in to the twins' cottage. "Ready to go?"
The Twins
The twins, man and woman, were fairer than Harjeedian, but darker than the others in the rescue party. Everything about them was a mix of their parents' races. Their hair was too fair to be brown, too brown to be fair, instead firmly in the middle, and their eyes weren't the onyx-black of the Liglimosh, but the warm brown of a fawn.
Almost as if they were linked somehow, their mouths both dropped open in shock as they stared at the intruders.
Isende
It was Isende who found her voice first: "But don't you see? You can't go back to the New World! If you do, you'll carry Divine Retribution back with you and who knows how many will die!"
Merlin
"We what?" Merlin asked, staring at the pair like they just said they killed his mum.
Isende
"You're in the Old World here," the young woman explained. "A place still afflicted by querinalo. Divine Retribution, the plague. Any of you with magic have probably already been infected. If you leave before the sickness takes you, you'll spread it to the lands outside the gate."
Francine
With magic had only one immediate meaning for Francine; she turned a worried glance to Merlin, putting a hand on his arm. "Do you feel okay? We're not from here; maybe you're immune."
Arthur
Arthur should be listening to the hopefully-approaching further explanation, but as soon as the with magic part had left Isende's mouth, his reaction had been... fairly close to Francine's, in fact.
He shifted closer towards Merlin, reaching for his other wrist (or maybe fingers; it was too difficult to tell, really), and shot him a look that struggled to shove a sheet of determination across a bucket of concern.
Only then did he look back at Isende.
Merlin
"I---" Grabbing both of them for something like support probably wasn't the best idea when finding out you have, you know, plague. But he couldn't help himself. "--I'm sure it will be fine."
That's the spirit!
Firekeeper and Blind Seer
Blind Seer knew who the other likely candidates for catching the Plague would be. His Firekeeper almost certainly. Truth, unless she really had lost her ability to see the future rather than just put it aside. And Derian. But what about the others? Were they also talented? Would they learn about this talent only when the plague hit?
"How have we been infected?" he asked. "Is it contact with the Once and Twice Dead? If so, they've already been into the New World. It's too late to stop the infection from spreading."
Firekeeper frowned and translated the question, and then looked impatiently at the twins for an answer.
Tiniel
It was Tiniel who answered. "We're not sure how the infection is spread, but neither of us fell ill until we'd been through the gate and spent some time here."
Isende
"And we have been back through the gate since we recovered," Isende added. "Not of our own free will. None of the yarimaimalom held prisoner in the stronghold got sick until they were brought to the Old World. So the New is still safe," she finished, "unless you go back as you are and infect it."
Firekeeper
"How long until we know if we catch this keri-something- the plague?" Firekeeper demanded.
Isende
"A day and a half or so," Isende answered. "before we know which among you are vulnerable. Until the--"
Harjeedian
But she wasn't to finish her thought, as rustling in the grass outside was followed by a worried Harjeedian bursting through the door. "There's trouble. You need to come now."
[[ preplayed with the fabulous kestrelswolf, thatsamilkshake and my partner in crime, bigdamndestiny. NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! ]]
They'd all agreed that waiting until they'd had a full night's rest to enact their plan was for the best. The horses were grazing in the garden, which was secure enough that they could remain there if the humans and yarimaimalom had a chance to go through the gate.
Merlin and Lovable had gone to take care of the alarm, while the others took up defensive positions.
Merlin
With the plan set and a night's rest for everyone, Merlin and Lovable were back in the copse and ready to see if this would even work.
He nodded once to the bird, crouching down with his hands on the ground. "Just one--" A flash of gold in his Sueish eyes and the beasts were stirring and promptly crushed by what they had set up yesterday. "--now."
Firekeeper
With that, Lovable took wing and was within the courtyard in moments:
"It is done! The bracken beasts are felled with the tree trunks. They wriggle like worms, but are broken beyond repair!"
"He is done," Firekeeper reported to the others, bending her bow and fitting the string. "Bracken beasts is felled." She tested the bow's pull, then relaxed it, keeping an arrow in hand, prepared for whatever may come through the gate.
Francine
If Francine were any girl but Francine, she might have had a problem with being told to stay the hell out of the way in slightly more chivalrous terms, but she wasn't. Out of the way in this case was beside Eshinarvash, the Wise Horse able to defend her if whoever came through should make it to the door of the Keep, without taking any of the seasoned fighters from the front line.
Still, she was watching through that open door, ready to help if she could.
You know, somehow. Possibly by pointing and yelling 'Him, kick him.'
Arthur
Well, that kind of spirited comment would certainly help keep up morale.
For Arthur's part, he was rather glad to have been taken during a hunting trip at this point, because at least it meant he had his crossbow at his side. Or, as it stood now, pointed towards the gate, moving swiftly from its previously prone position to threaten it as needed.
"Is everyone set and ready?"
... He knew Firekeeper was in charge. Honest.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian, who had readily admitted to not being the best of fighters, gave a nod from his own position back further from the gate, not quite as far away as Francine but still well out of the general area where any fighting was likely to take place.
Derian
Derian stood closer, and though he wore his sword at his side, the weapon he held in hand was a club. Truth and Blind Seer, meanwhile, were poised at either side of the gate.
Merlin
Merlin ran like the flaily boy he was back to the group, coming up next to Arthur for the fight. "No other beasts I saw."
Firekeeper
"Nothing happen here y-," Firekeeper began to say, which was of course when the grey stone on the wall began to transform into a shimmering silver.
Shapes began to form within the silver: at first, an blob which then separated and became distinct shapes. Two groups of... something, and then four distinct entities, walking in pairs.
Firekeeper readied her bow, blood quickening with excitement and dread.
Arthur
Arthur's fingers would have tightened on his crossbow if his training hadn't been better. The first shape, mysterious as it was, quickly gained form. Two men, one of them like himself - or Blysse's Derian - a warrior beyond a shadow of a doubt, with his heavy armor finding its twin in his companion's, whose shade was decidedly more like physician Martha's.
But this was not the time to bring up the good physician. Arthur opened his mouth, ready to demand that the newcomers drop their clubs (at least it was a short-ranged weapon) when he caught sight of the next two, robed figures carrying satchels.
They reminded him of druids.
He raised his crossbow higher to catch them in his sights. Magic users were always dangerous; this time, the danger was pointed at them.
The Once Dead
The features of those two shifted from blank alertness to alarm as they realized they hadn't entered the quiet sanctuary they had clearly expected. Satchels were dropped as they fumbled for their weapons.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper, on the other hand, had been prepared for this moment. She fired, her arrow slicing through the air and landing in the thick leather padding over the dark-skinned man's right shoulder. He bellowed something, and dropped his club.
Merlin
Staying where he was, Merlin crouched down to try and get the plants to listen to him once again. It was more difficult than thought without something to follow first.
But his eyes were gold and he was muttering something under his breath to get the terrifying response of...
...the plants swaying slightly to the left. Damn it.
Derian
"Drop your weapons!" Derian yelled in Liglimosh, the language they had thought most likely to be understood.
Arthur
The tone of Derian's voice suggested what he was hollering, even if Arthur couldn't identify the actual language.
He was going to be a help in motivating exactly why they should be following Derian's command-- by yanking the trigger of his crossbow back, a bolt burrowing itself perfectly aimed in the other warrior's arm. Just by the shoulder, just in a weak, unarmored spot.
It was a good shot.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper fired again, this time slicing the arm of one of those without armor. This one cried out in a high voice that made Firekeeper realize they were probably female. If these humans were like most she'd met, the males would feel more alarm at damage to the female member of their company than to another male. .
Lachen
The man who'd been standing behind the warriors had noticed Merlin's muttering, and the subsequent... moving of the plants. Which is why he was now reaching for a canteen by his side. He sprinkled a few drops of liquid- dark and copper-scented, it was clearly blood- on the ground and muttered a few words, causing the ground to shake slightly.
Merlin
Oh no. No, no, no. That was a very bad thing to have happen with everyone here.
"Swá hércyme hit endedæg þæs cleadur. Hércyme endedæg þæs cleadur, hércyme endedæg þæs cleadur."
Merlin's jaw set and he slammed both hands down on the ground, bringing great chunks of earth up around the man and woman, encircling them as the ground rumbled.
He... really hadn't known that was even possible. So if he looked just a bit surprised, it may be best to forgive.
Derian
"Do you surrender?" Derian called out in Liglimosh, working hard to keep his voice steady after witnessing such a display of magic.
Lachen
The male of the pair Merlin had trapped shouted something in an unfamiliar language that caused the warriors to drop their weapons and stand still.
"We have surrendered," he told Derian. "Will you have these heads?"
Derian
"Do you speak Pellish?" Derian asked in that tongue. It would make things easier for the outlanders if the prisoners spoke a language they shared. At a nod from the female, Derian continued: "I said we would spare you, but I warn you: break your surrender and we will show no mercy."
Arthur
Arthur had lowered his crossbow, but his eyes were still narrowed. Disarmed in some ways, yes, but it in all? He approached one of the warriors with careful steps, after casting a look back at Derian. "And you'd best not hold any ideas about treason in your hearts," he said, idly, his free hand back on his sword.
Eshinarvash
At the sight of the newcomers standing down - or being bound down in the case of the ones Merlin had trapped, Eshinarvash moved out the door into the garden.
Francine
Francine followed - as much as she might have liked to stay safely ensconced in the stone corridor, she was stupidly equally determined to be part of this, instead of the helpless one who got brought along for the ride because she happened to be... along for the ride.
Harjeedian was already striding forward from his position at the rear to join the others; Francine hung back behind him as he approached the man Arthur had addressed.
Harjeedian
"You will come with us to be questioned," Harjeedian said in tones more formal and priestly than he'd used on any of Firekeeper's friends. "If the answers please us, then perhaps we will tend to the injuries you have so deserved."
The Twice Dead
The two men in armor, the ones who had carried weapons, glanced to the two in robes for orders.
Lachen
"We will go," said the taller of the robed ones, the male, with a slow nod. "If your spellcaster will free us to do so."
Merlin
"Um." Merlin looked at the blocks of earth. "Right."
Shit.
"I'll move those now." If he COULD. Kneeling again, he very slowly moved things back to whe
Derian
"Leave your gear here," Derian ordered the prisoners. Who knew what sort of weapon they might have hidden within that might be reached for in one careless moment.
The paler of the two warriors looked as if he might protest, but Derian inclined his head towards Firekeeper's tightly-drawn bowstring. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. She's just a little crazy."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper thought she heard the man mutter "a little?" as they moved towards the campfire, but the comment didn't offend her.
The two magic-users sat first, and though the warriors resisted following suit for a moment, the dull twang as Firekeeper casually plucked her bow string soon convinced them otherwise.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian took the initiative to begin questioning them, his accents still formal and cold. "I am the aridisdu Harjeedian, of u-Nahal in Liglim, he began. You are?" The tone held only bored good manners, not the least hint of curiosity.
Lachen
The male sorcerer was obviously offended. "I am the Once Dead Lachen; my companion is the Once Dead Ynamynet. We are served by Verul and Skea of the Twice Dead."
Arthur
That was nice and... not at all informative.
"Is Once Dead a title of some kind?" Arthur inquired, raising his chin in recognition of the man for a split second. Perhaps he should have introduced himself first, but Harjeedian had taken most of that responsibility.
Besides, he knew very little about this place (beyond that it seemed close to home) and it might be something one of his companions already knew.
Lachen
"It means," Lachen replied, throwing a look towards the Twice Dead that was clearly contemptuous, "that the fire of querinalo did not succeed in stealing magic from me. Unlike those who chose to let it burn away." A reply that served to both answer Arthur's question and raise more, since none of them were familiar with the term "querinalo" either.
Merlin
"Querinalo?" Merlin asked quietly. Because stealing magic wasn't exactly somethign he wanted to hear. Um, ever.
Ynamynet
"Perhaps you call it something else?" Ynamynet supplied, not knowing that some of her captors weren't of this world. "Divine Retribution?"
Firekeeper
"Fire Plague," Firekeeper nodded in understanding, hoping that Merlin remembered the conversation they'd had about it moonspans ago. "But Plague run its course hundreds of years ago," she frowned.
Ynamynet
Ynamynet exchanged an unreadable glance with her companion before answering. "In some parts of the Old World, it may still be found. We who survived it with our power intact are the Once Dead. Those--" She pointed to Verul and Skea. "--did not." There was none of the scorn in her voice that had been present in Lachen's, just the flat, neutral tone of facts relayed as ordered.
Harjeedian
Harjeedian's expression remained impassive as this information was shared. "Very good. Now, unless you're interested in becoming permanently dead, you will answer my questions. A member of our company, one called Plik, was taken from us. We have tracked him to this place, and know that from here he was taken far hence. We wish him back."
Skea
The darker warrior - Skea - spoke, but only after a look to the woman, who held her hand to her injured arm, pressing the fabric of the robe over the cut as a makeshift bandage. "Short, fat, round. Very strange. I know where this Plik is kept."
Harjeedian
"And do you know how to open the way between this place and that?" This, he directed mostly at the Once Dead.
Lachen
Lachen glared in silence until Ynamynet opened her mouth to speak; then he cut her off. "A small wound and you would betray our secrets to these?" he hissed at her.
Ynamynet
Ynamynet jerked her head towards Firekeeper's bow, towards Arthur's sword. "They would not remain small. What good would our dying do, or our pain? Blood is to be shed for use, not to stain stone."
Harjeedian
"Will you force us to make you an example to those who will come looking to see the reason for your failure?" Harjeedian asked, face impassive enough that even his companions couldn't be sure if he was bluffing.
Lachen
It may have been that single word, 'failure,' that melted through Lachen's remaining resistance. He bent, head in hands. "I suppose we have no choice."
Merlin
Arms crossed over his chest as though that would somehow make him more intimidating, Merlin frowned. "How? Show me."
Lachen
His appearance, not so much. What he had done by surrounding them with earth, though, had been impressive. It didn't stop Lachen from shaking his head, however.
"We can show you, yes, but we shall have to open the gate ourselves; it is not easily done."
Ynamynet
"You will, however, need to provide us with the... fuel. Blood." Ynamynet chimed in.
Derian
"Great." Derian looked disgusted at the thought.
Francine
Okay, Francine had something to say to that. UM??"
Hey, we didn't say it was something intelligent. Cut her some slack, though; after this month, donating blood took on all sorts of nasty new meanings.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper was hardly pleased about the idea herself, but. "Blood here. How different from blood spilled there? We know we is to fight. We know we is maybe hurt. Still, we go." She shrugged.
Possibly not the most reassuring response, no.
Arthur
"There is no issue with our own blood spilled in a good cause," Arthur affirmed, but he sounded neither happy nor... whatever the opposite of suspicious was. "But I warn you that it best be paid towards our request, and not some act of betrayal. We have our own defenses."
He was the son of Uther. He would not let this go idly by.
Arthur
Eshinarvash stamped one hoof.
"I can give a great deal more blood without it weakening me than can you little human things. Does the blood need to come from each who travels through the gates, or can one or two give more?"
Firekeeper relayed the question to the Once Dead.
Ynamynet
Lachen looked mildly startled at the implication that the horse was an intelligent creature. Ynamynet recovered more quickly. "Yes, the horse's blood should do nicely. A smear from each of the rest of you shall suffice, so that the gate knows you."
Firekeeper
"How many can go through gate at one time?" Firekeeper asked.
Lachen
"We've never transported more than two at one time," Lachen admitted. "Changing that would mean reconfiguring the spell and, honestly? I don't know if it would work."
Firekeeper
"Then we go by twos," Firekeeper said with a nod. "We tie your feet and send you through with guard so you not think of getting to other side and then running fast away."
She gave each of the prisoners an assessing look, and then continued: "Truth and Harjeedian first. Then Merlin and Lachen, Arthur and Skea, Francine and Blind Seer, Derian and Verul, Eshinarvash and Smudge, Bitter and Lovable. You and me last," she told Ynamynet. Warrior with warrior, mage with mage, the weakest with those who could protect them. "This work for all?"
By 'all' of course, she meant those of her company. She cared little for what the prisoners thought of the arrangement.
Arthur
"Sounds like fun."
That might have almost sounded like a knuckle-crack, there, as Arthur considered his large, but by no means unbeatable, quarry.
Francine
Francine shot him a boys are weird look, but the very familiarity of that weirdness compared to this weirdness kept her calm enough to answer, "Oh yeah, fun like a trip to the circus," as she moved over to join Blind Seer.
The giant wolf was another island of this-shouldn't-make-me-feel-safe-but-it-does in a place that didn't, and she found herself slipping her fingers into the ruff of fur at his neck.
Merlin
Nodding once in understanding, Merlin puffed up a little bit more. Machismo was not only restricted to those carrying swords, you know.
"Let's go then," he replied.
He shot a quick look back at Francine, smiling in a way he hoped was encouraging.
Ynamynet
"We will begin as soon as we've collected enough blood," Ynamynet said with a nod, moving in Eshinarvash's direction. Derian followed closely, watching to see that they were careful and did nothing foolish like nick a tendon.
Lachen
"It is done," Lachen said finally. "Ready?"
Firekeeper
"Must not forget this," Firekeeper grinned a little, holding up a length of rope.
Lachen
"Of course," Lachen sighed. Clearly he'd been hoping they'd conveniently forget that part. "It will feel like fire for a moment as you step through, but the sensation will pass. You will find yourself in a small building on the other side. Make sure to move out of the way quickly to make room for those who follow you."
Within a few minutes, everyone save Firekeeper and Ynamynet were through.
Firekeeper
"Now, us," Firekeeper said to Ynamynet.
Ynamynet
"I'm not going to do it," the sorcerer said, folding her arms across her chest. "Why should I? My people are back where they should be, and you are here without allies. You can kill me if you like, but you cannot make me open the gate."
At Firekeeper's raised Fang, she simply shook her head.
"You're stuck here," Ynamynet continued. "And let me tell you why I'm so determined to hold out. I think they need you to lead them. That Harjeedian may have done most of the talking, but he's no war leader. In a fight, you or the blond would lead, and I saw how he deferred to you. The longer your friends wait for you to show up, the longer my people have to notice something is wrong. Our community isn't huge, but it's large enough to deal with the handful you've stranded there."
The Meddler
"Ynamynet's right, you know," said a voice from over by the well. The Meddler, more translucent than the last time he'd appeared, stood leaning against the stone. Ynamynet started, her momentary arrogance vanishing at the new voice.
"The others cannot succeed without you," he continued. "You are the One who gives your pack direction. Your friend Arthur might do in a pinch, but I think we can agree that there are certain advantages you have that he does not."
Firekeeper
It was, Firekeeper realized, all too true. She trusted Arthur's ability to get things done if she could not, but he had even less familiarity with the people here that she did, and could not speak to the yarimaimalom.
"You have some thought- some plan. Tell. Time is going."
The Meddler
"You need a sorcerer. The one you had counted on has refused. I happen to be a sorcerer, and now that the gate is primed, I can work the spell." She really should have expected the pause. And the smirk. "For a price. A favor to be redeemed at the time of my choosing.
Firekeeper
"Favor?"
The Meddler
"Something from you to me, nothing more. I swear that I won't involve another in any way, nor will I ask you to kill someone. I won't even ask you to stand by and let me kill someone."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper considered the offer. She didn't trust the Meddler, but couldn't see any other way.
"I give you this favor. Now, open this gate."
The Meddler
"Do you wish to take that woman with you? You know you can't trust her."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper shrugged. "Would be cruel to leave starve. I bring."
The Meddler
"Very well. I won't even ask an extra favor for transporting her. Consider it free of charge. Ready?" the Meddler asked.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper nodded, bound Ynamynet and steered her into place. At his signal, they stepped through the gate.
Francine
To say that things were getting more and more antsy on the other side of the gate the longer Firekeeper wasn't there... was something only Francine would do. And then all the medieval-type people would look at her funny, and she was nervous enough as it was, so she just thought it to herself.
When Firekeeper did come through, a bound and gagged Ynamynet shuffling before her, it was enough of a relief that she beat Derian to asking, "Firekeeper! What took you so long?"
Firekeeper
Firekeeper would never admit it out loud, but she was worried if something may have happened to her friends on the other end of the gate during her absence. So it was a great relief when she stepped through and everyone was there unharmed.
"This one," she jerked a thumb at Ynamynet. "She try a trick. But Meddler is better at tricking. He bring me through." But had not accompanied them on the journey, as far as could be seen. "Is all well?"
Merlin
Merlin smiled faintly at her, nothing more than a twitch of his lips. He nodded ahead of them taking a breath. "No one has noticed us as far as I can tell."
The 'so far' was left unsaid, of course.
Francine
Francine reached for his hand, something she'd been wanting to do since she stepped through the gate, but had held back from for some reason. With the relief that Firekeeper's crossing brought, she realized why: she hadn't wanted to look like she needed it. Even if she did.
"The ravens took off," she said, pointing into the sky with the other hand. The night sky -- yet again they'd stepped from daylight into darkness.
Firekeeper
Firekeeper nodded, seeking comfort of her own as she knelt and hugged Blind Seer's head close.
"They should return very soon," Blind Seer told her. "And then we can go."
"Some must stay here to guard gate and these," Firekeeper said, gesturing towards the prisoners.
Truth
"This island's air is filled with the reeks of blood and fear. I have no wish to have the one door out of here blocked from our use. Eshinarvash and I have discussed it; we will stay here," Truth offered, and Firekeeper translated for the rest of the group.
Derian
"I'll stay," Derian volunteered. "The horse -- Smudge, is it? -- will need someone to look after her anyhow."
Harjeedian
"I will remain behind as well," Harjeedian said. "Too many bodies will make moving quietly difficult."
Bitter and Lovable
It was at that moment that Lovable and Bitter returned. Once they'd settled themselves on Blind Seer's shoulders (a bit like very peculiar knights mounted for war, Firekeeper thought), they gave their report.
"We found the place," Lovable said."There is a high hedge into which that horrible blood briar is woven, but there is a gate in the hedge. A human guards the gate." She went on to describe the human's armor and weapons.
"Inside the hedge there are two small buildings," Bitter continued the report after his mate finished. "I looked in through the windows. Plik sleeps in the smaller of the two buildings. Two who must be the twins sleep in the other."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper translated this, sneaking a glance at Arthur as she did so. She was terribly curious about how he'd react to the ravens' scouting job.
Arthur
Arthur had sucked in his lower lip in thought; he'd sought no comfort, and given none in turn. It wasn't his part. He released it, returning Firekeeper's glance with a slight shift of his eyes in her direction.
"One guard," he said, "Unless the gate holds some other enchanted trap, it should not be too much effort to overwhelm him, or sneak past him."
His next look was intended for Francine. He wasn't happy that she was coming along with them on this quest, but he couldn't anticipate whether or not the portal would be safer than wherever they were headed.
"We should reclaim Plik before we do anything else."
Firekeeper
Firekeeper trusted Derian and Eshinarvash unconditionally. Harjeedian... it was hard to fully trust someone who'd once been your captor. And as far as Truth, well. She was a cat with a history of madness who was alternately distracted and annoyed by the outworlders' presence at the best of times. Which all added up to Francine's accompanying them being preferable to leaving her behind, at least in Firekeeper's thinking.
"Lovable will go over hedge and into house to wake him," Firekeeper said, the raven flapping off even as she spoke the words.
Merlin
Ahead of them was the single guard Arthur told them about. And he was... surprisingly unremarkable. Being in some different world, Merlin supposed he might have been obviously foreign or exotic, but nothing of that.
Just a man, walking about with the practiced ease of someone who had been and would be doing this for a very long time.
"I can distract him," Merlin offered.
Firekeeper
"Can you do so without hurting him?" Firekeeper requested. She had a bit of a soft spot for guards, having befriended many of them during her time at Eagle's Nest Castle. "Tie up, maybe?"
Merlin
"I was thinking of just drawing him away," Merlin replied. Because that always worked in Camelot. Because the guards were very very dim.
But don't tell Arthur that.
Firekeeper
"This may work," Firekeeper agreed. "But may also cause trouble if someone look and he not there. If we tie up, is harder to notice something being wrong until you get very close. And then..." she gestured to the weapons she and Arthur held, and Blind Seer bared his fangs.
Francine
"Also if you tie him up he won't double back and sneak up behind you at the worst possible moment."
What? She'd watched every episode of Bitterwoman ever. Bitterwoman tied a lot of people up.
Arthur
"Just incapacitate him," Arthur replied, "We don't have much time for discussion."
His eyes flicked to Firekeeper, then to the guard; his feet were already bringing him in just a step closer. "So unless you're going to drop something on him, Merlin...".
Merlin
"Not drop," Merlin replied, taking a breath and trying the grass again. This time it was... more of a wave to the side. Enough so to knock the poor man off his feet and grow up over him like rope, keeping the guard in place.
See, he only could do it when the dramatic moment was right.Or if they needed to end an episode.
Firekeeper
"It had also terribly conveniently knocked the keys to the gate to the ground. Firekeeper snatched them up and unlocked the gate, gesturing for the others to go through. A light glowed in the smaller of the two cottages, and she guessed that Lovable had succeeded in waking Plik.
Plik
That guess was correct, as the front door opened and a short, roundish figure came out to stand in the doorway. "Firekeeper, is that really you?"
Even in the dim light, it was clear that his face was not that of a human. As he stepped further out of the doorway, his appearance grew clearer: he resembled either a very short, fat man with a fat fluffy tail, or a raccoon who had become bipedal. His facial features reinforced the confusion. Although his nose was more like that of a raccoon, his mouth was a bit broader, like a man's.
Francine
Oh Francine, close your mouth. You've chatted with a talking felt frog and played dodgeball with a Klingon.
Mouth. Closed. Bright smile. "Um. Hi." Casual fail, FTW. But at least it was hard to sound too awkward when you were whispering.
Plik
"Hello," Plik replied, more than a little taken aback by the presence of so many strangers. "Who- never mind, it's not important. What are you doing here?"
Arthur
It wasn't human. Grand. That was just par for the course, and Arthur was not going to pay lip service to the fact that his life, as always, was turning out to be completely insane. "Rescuing you," he said, matter-of-factly, "So let's stop blabbing, shall we?"
Firekeeper
"Time enough for talk later," Firekeeper agreed. "Plik, you go wake twins. Tell them they are to come with us to open gate. I will hurt them if they refuse."
Plik
"Isende and Tiniel aren't my captors," the raccoon-man replied even as he nodded and turned towards their cottage. "I imagine they'll be as eager to leave as we are." He lifted the latch without announcing himself and disappeared into the small building.
There was silence from within, then the sounds of rustling and low but worried voices.
Firekeeper
It didn't take long for Firekeeper to become frustrated with standing around doing nothing, and so with Blind Seer at her side, she gestured for the others to follow her as she barged in to the twins' cottage. "Ready to go?"
The Twins
The twins, man and woman, were fairer than Harjeedian, but darker than the others in the rescue party. Everything about them was a mix of their parents' races. Their hair was too fair to be brown, too brown to be fair, instead firmly in the middle, and their eyes weren't the onyx-black of the Liglimosh, but the warm brown of a fawn.
Almost as if they were linked somehow, their mouths both dropped open in shock as they stared at the intruders.
Isende
It was Isende who found her voice first: "But don't you see? You can't go back to the New World! If you do, you'll carry Divine Retribution back with you and who knows how many will die!"
Merlin
"We what?" Merlin asked, staring at the pair like they just said they killed his mum.
Isende
"You're in the Old World here," the young woman explained. "A place still afflicted by querinalo. Divine Retribution, the plague. Any of you with magic have probably already been infected. If you leave before the sickness takes you, you'll spread it to the lands outside the gate."
Francine
With magic had only one immediate meaning for Francine; she turned a worried glance to Merlin, putting a hand on his arm. "Do you feel okay? We're not from here; maybe you're immune."
Arthur
Arthur should be listening to the hopefully-approaching further explanation, but as soon as the with magic part had left Isende's mouth, his reaction had been... fairly close to Francine's, in fact.
He shifted closer towards Merlin, reaching for his other wrist (or maybe fingers; it was too difficult to tell, really), and shot him a look that struggled to shove a sheet of determination across a bucket of concern.
Only then did he look back at Isende.
Merlin
"I---" Grabbing both of them for something like support probably wasn't the best idea when finding out you have, you know, plague. But he couldn't help himself. "--I'm sure it will be fine."
That's the spirit!
Firekeeper and Blind Seer
Blind Seer knew who the other likely candidates for catching the Plague would be. His Firekeeper almost certainly. Truth, unless she really had lost her ability to see the future rather than just put it aside. And Derian. But what about the others? Were they also talented? Would they learn about this talent only when the plague hit?
"How have we been infected?" he asked. "Is it contact with the Once and Twice Dead? If so, they've already been into the New World. It's too late to stop the infection from spreading."
Firekeeper frowned and translated the question, and then looked impatiently at the twins for an answer.
Tiniel
It was Tiniel who answered. "We're not sure how the infection is spread, but neither of us fell ill until we'd been through the gate and spent some time here."
Isende
"And we have been back through the gate since we recovered," Isende added. "Not of our own free will. None of the yarimaimalom held prisoner in the stronghold got sick until they were brought to the Old World. So the New is still safe," she finished, "unless you go back as you are and infect it."
Firekeeper
"How long until we know if we catch this keri-something- the plague?" Firekeeper demanded.
Isende
"A day and a half or so," Isende answered. "before we know which among you are vulnerable. Until the--"
Harjeedian
But she wasn't to finish her thought, as rustling in the grass outside was followed by a worried Harjeedian bursting through the door. "There's trouble. You need to come now."
[[ preplayed with the fabulous kestrelswolf, thatsamilkshake and my partner in crime, bigdamndestiny. NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! ]]