SoS B1 C7 X5: Curfew
The party was back in the rooms after the dinner. The servants had brought fresh bed linens and had even offered to draw them baths, with the note that they'd have to share in some cases because there was only so much hot water at the moment.
Synna jumped up and kissed Allarah on the cheek. "Looks like you're off the hook for now!
The letters flickered in her vision, hovering there while the dot dot dot trail of a response in progress came back from Morkun. She wasn't left waiting for long.
“/[Morkun to Allarah] We're fine. The guards watch us always from the walls. Agata is on edge and holed herself in the back car with all the blankets from the Somnolent car, Misha won't let us talk to her./”
“/[Morkun to Allarah] Laemon is well. Seems kinda happy even. Coming out of the shock I think./”
Dot dot dot.
”/[Morkun to Allarah] Narissa and Stenem watched the systems while us Pact raided houses. Looks like they've already been picked over. We'll look
again, one more house./”
Dot dot dot.
Dot dot dot.
Dot dot dot.
”/[Morkun to Allarah] That's it from me./”
”/[Allarah to Morkun] We met another Feao. He seems to be the one in charge. We also found out that the power grid has been destroyed, but I assume it's repairable given that he refuses to divulge its location. The town is also crawling with Sathiid... The thing that Laemon saw when he was attacked, the skull, it's a grimore according to the Feao. He seems interested in getting his hands on it, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Also, be careful. If you haven't seen the vampire vines yet, you will. They grow in more abundance the further north we go. I'm relieved to hear you're well. Stay safe./”
”/[Morkun to Allarah] Grimoire? I'll ask Sorja... he might know a bit. You too. What's the plan?/”
”/[Allarah to Morkun] Depending on its importance, we may have to retrieve it first. I may not be able to come. I... may have to become a distraction. I've already heard enough from Synna on the topic. You're in charge of determining the importance. Let me know if you leave to retrieve it. I'll do what I can to buy you time./”
”/[Morkun to Allarah] If his quarrel was with us you would be dead. No doubt he wants whatever secrets or power it holds. Getting in the way of it now would be a suicide mission. We'd best stand aside and guide from the sidelines than try to confront directly. You have Immuena and Tyodor and a sharp mind, try to figure what he wants it for, try to leverage the situation for the location of the power grid, see if you can tie it to whatever his goal is to turn it on./”
”/[Allarah to Morkun] Roger that. Keep me posted. I have a separate matter to attend to./”
”/[Morkun to Allarah] Affirmative. Sadika./”
”/[Allarah to Morkun] Sadika./”
"So, I wouldn't say I need to bathe, but a bath sounds wonderful. Anyone care to join me?" Immuena beckoned to the room.
"Synna and I have a task. Count us out."
"Do you need help? Bathing isn't that important."
"Were just going to hunt down the doctor. He couldn't have gotten far. You can join if you wish."
Tyodor looked to Lev. A conversation passed between their eyes. Lev's gaze hardened, Tyodor's followed suit, and after a moment. Tyodor looked to Immuena said "Joining." Grudgingly, Dmitri said the same.
Immuena didn't flinch. "Well, guess that's settled. Don't hesitate to send out a call if your chase sours." She proceeded to the bathhouse area.
Tskhan decided to followed suit with Immuena. "I'll join too."
Ijin twisted her lips. She wanted a shower but not with that lot. "I'll go with you, Allarah," she said. “/[Ijin to Allarah] Someone's gotta mind the mission/”
“/[Allarah to Ijin] I'm happy to have you with me.”
“/[Ijin to Allarah] We need a doctor on the crew posthaste/”
Allarah swapped the red dress for something more drab and fitting for Gorshi and set out into the city with Ijin and Synna. A quick query of the guards told Allarah that Crow lived a bit along the city, in a belltower up upon a catacomb mound -- which was as morbid as it sounded.
The paved, re-paved, and cobbled street clicked underfoot as they cut through the town. Unlike before, the urchins in the street gave them a wide berth, slinking back into whatever shadows Sellinus' thin figures didn't already inhabit.
Synna established a mindlink between herself, Ijin, and Allarah.
<I feel like this is a good time to mention. Those figures wandering around? The skinny hooded ones? They're skeletons.>
< Of course they are. Marianiyah has necromantic themes. Why not have skeletal guards?> Discomfort laced Allarah’s thoughts, followed by a sense of foreboding. <The Grimore... you don't think he'll try to animate it do you?>
<I don't know enough about Marianiyans to say. I feel like yes, like that's an important part of it, but the specifics escape me. Kinda way outta my field, you know?>
They navigated around a walled off street, circling through an alley. A pack of hounds spotted them, eyes glittering in the dark, and dove into the basement window of one of the buildings. Their yaps receded into the distance.
<We're being avoided.> Ijin announced.
<I'm not sure why we're being avoided, but look at these signatures. It's like he's trying to bring this whole place to life. Perhaps he already did.> Allarah.
<With the way he was talking and the way this town looks I think he's building an army to use against Karim. We've opened the gates to Vien for him, and apparently given him something he dearly wanted. No wonder he's treating us so well.> Ijin.
<I don't like how much sense you're making.> Synna.
“/[Morkun to Allarah] Sorja says that Marianiyans bind the souls of their dead to trap the souls within, and they use the skills, the Grimoires, as repositories for knowledge and as guards. They're indentured slaves and weapons, with the more powerful ones being able to turn into truly awful and powerful things, difficult to control and deny./”
<Shit.> Allarah relayed his message to the others. <We need to proceed with caution. Nothing should happen until tomorrow. We need to figure something out.> She kicked herself. <For now, let's focus on the Crow. If we leave in a hurry, I'd like him to be with us. Having a doctor is invaluable.> Her thoughts drifted to Laemon, pain twisting in her chest.
Allarah removed herself from the link and was quiet for a long time. "Ijin, I'm sorry." She continued forward, eyes scanning the graveyard before her. Another long pause. "I haven't gotten to speak with you since..." Her shoulders slumped a hair. "I'm not sure if you hold me in the same regard as Immuena, it's not as if I haven't earned it. My apology fixes nothing, but all the same... I wanted to tell you myself. If you don't wish to see Immuena or myself, I'll do what I can to stay from your sight, and keep her away as well." Her voice was serene, accepting.
Synna and Allarah skidded to a stop as though caught like an elastic band on the now-stationary Ijin. The Venuan ran her fingers through her short hair and rubbed the bags under her dark eyes.
"Allarah...." she started, drawing a shaky breath. "Just... fuck off on it, alright? I get that you're trying to keep everyone stable and on good terms but I'm a soldier, I don't need that, I just need a mission."
She pushed on, bringing them in tow. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk to my commander that way."
"Talk to me however you wish. This isn't just about keeping everyone calm and stable. I've been worried about you, but if that isn't my place, I'd like to know. I'd rather not cause you pain in your down times." There was no aggression as she spoke. "I'll not bring it up again after today." She followed Ijin silently debating to herself. Sucking in a deep breath she strode up to walk next to her. "Don’t call me your commander. There are others more deserving of that title, and they certainly aren't Verin."
"It's not about deserving it, it's about having a chain of command," Ijin said, shaking her head. "Venistasia is the current top command of this planet. We do what she says to get the job done, and she said you're in charge of this mission. Like it or not, you're the commander. You better act like it before everything bursts at the seams."
"I can see it trying. It will start with Tyodor if I can't find a way to keep him in line... Ijin, Synna, when we go to meet the Doctor, I'd like you to stand back until I give the word. He seems demure and I don't want to frighten him or his apprentice."
"Mir is demure, this Doctor is just weird," Synna remarked.
Ijin cut her off, stopping either of them from going any further. They'd come to a junction in alleyways. Masonry rose up on every side above them, and in places the buildings had wood shunts jammed between them to keep them from leaning too close to each other at time lent them a tilt. Clothes and herbs hung from those shunts close to windows, crows lurked upon others.
Down the alley to their left a man lay coughing, spitting up blood from a sucking chest wound. He looked to be on his way out, but was trying to crawl down the alley anyway, to the open street.
As they watched, pale hands with too-long, talon-tipped fingers reached out from open gratings set along the wall, and from a basement window peeking up. They grabbed at him, pulling him lazily towards the window as he moaned "noooo noooooo!"
Allarah made a move to go help the man, but stopped, looking at Synna and Ijin. She turned away and continued forward. "There's nothing we can do. You're my first priority." She said, more to herself than them.
The man's boots disappeared into the window as they receded into the distance and left him to his fate.
Crow's tower jutted up against the skyline. It had been more of a climb than anticipated, and they were now hundreds of feet above ground level. To the east the sky was darkening, and the clouds were collecting again, promising to bring night faster than anticipated.
Crows circled the tower. Some settled on the locked gate and cawed at Allarah, trying to shoo her off.
"This isn't ominous," Synna said.
"They're only birds. I think they're beautiful." She smiled, only a hint of unease in her eyes. "Let's hurry then. It's getting dark."
Saumai's baleful moons lost sight of Gorshi through the swarming clouds. The eaves held their breath and the stones of the buildings drew in upon themselves, cowering against the approach of shadow and the growl of thunder stalking in the distance.
A light drizzle began, each droplet frigid as it tried to bore their their skin.
The crows cawed and squawked, taking to the sky as Allarah pushed open the iron gate.
The belltower’s courtyard, like Sellinus', must have been quite the sight once upon a time, but now it was choked with dead weeds and crammed full of markers of the dead - statues, sacraments, gravestones, coffins.
"Not a one can go in the ground, stand them up to make their rounds" Allarah had heard some kids chanting it when she entered the city. It only now registered what they meant now that she understood that the coffins weren't just the surplus left to sit, but were instead the safe resting places for the skeletons between rounds.
As though to illustrate that fact, one of the coffins opened and a hooded figure glided out, past them, and into the streets. As it passed them it stopped and placed a hand on Allarah's shoulder. For the first time one of them raised their head, baring the skull under the hood; it was an old thing, chipped and warped, with a weed growing from the eye.
</Cuuurfeeew/>
It floated away, and pulled the grating shut behind it.
Proximity to the belltower made its spire seem more at tilt than ever. It leaned away from the approaching storm as though trying to escape to the east. At the peak of the belfry the bell hung, silent and black.
A great oak door marked the entrance to the tower. A grimacing face held a knocker in its jaw. Firelight flickered in the window.
Allarah followed the creature with her eyes. "Looks like we're out past curfew." Stepping forward, she gripped the knocker and struck the door three times. "Hold back a few steps." She reminded the two behind her.
The knocker thudded against the wood. Someone called out from inside; it was impossible to make out the words but it had the general cadence of 'just a moment' to it, belted out in Russian.
"I don't understand this place," Ijin grunted. "I can't say I've met many undead, but I didn't expect them to be polite."
The thumps of boots on floor, the clitter-clatter of locks being undone. A slot opened, an eye peered out.
"Ah"
The slot closed. The door opened. A plume of warm air embraced them, the lick of heat from a great hearth.
"Sellinus' guests!" Guil said, inclining his head in greeting. "Have you brought word from him?" His confusion was evident. His gaze flicked to the sky.
"Ah, no. We're here on our own business." She smiled pulling a small container from her bag. "I wanted to apologize to you and Crow for dinner. I brought a peace offering. Do you mind if we come in?" Eyes darted to the gate and back. "We've been told we're past curfew."
"Apologize?" He looked between the container and the trio, then leaned out of the door-frame to glance around. "You come alone? What business?"
"Just that, and to ask Crow if he would mind checking on the member of our crew that was injured. None of us are suited for long term care, and I worry that he won't be able to walk again. We mean no harm, and do indeed come alone." She offered him the container. "It's dessert from dinner. Pudding."
"Ooooh lovely," Guil said, opening the door and ushering them in with a quick sweep of his hand. "I was eyeing that before we had to rush out of there. Please, come in. Want anything? I've just put some tea on, nothing like what Sellinus has but it'll keep you warm."
He closed the door behind them, shutting out the growing cold.
The interior of the bell tower and church had much the same architecture as they had seen back in the church in Dessir. The pews were replaced by tables and racks which broke the space into rooms, and bolts of cloth hung from the roof to form a sort of tent to keep the heat in. At the far end was a few cozy chairs spaced around a hearth, and a table with a cup and a book -- one of hundreds in the place, though it was the only one currently open to a page.
Guil closed it and set it aside as he brought them over and knelt down to remove the kettle from the fire.
Allarah walked in as if she had visited before. "You'll not hear us complain." She couldn't stop the smile that broke across her face as she took in the collection of books. "Do you have anything on human history? My Russian is rusty, but I can still read. If you don't mind of course." She set the pudding down on the table and cast her eyes about. "Where is Crow?"
When Crow didn't leap out from any shadows Guil answered. "He's got one on the slab right now to hand off to The King. He's probably cleaning up as we talk," he said, leaving the kettle to cool as he wandered off in search of a book.
"Sadly, the library is in Abisk, all the books you'll find here have been written only in the last few hundred years, and we can't part with much. I have a schoolbook you can keep for Russian, and an older book you can leaf through but will have to leave here, if that's fine by you."
Synna sat. Ijin leaned on the wall. <I don't sense any skeletons in here.> Synna said. <Something's below us but there's too much in the way to get a good read.>
<Keep an eye out.>
"Of course that's fine, thank you." She took the seat next to Synna. "King? Are you referring to Sellinus?" The disbelief in her voice was unmasked. After a moment she shook her head apologetically. "Sorry. That was disrespectful of me. Does the doctor get a lot of work from Sellinus?"
He grunted in confusion at her question and her apology as he returned with a couple books. He tapped the top. "This is the one you can keep, but please be careful with this one."
He knelt down to grab some cups from under a shelf, laid out five, and began to pour.
"Sellinus? No, he's not the King. Sorry, I forget you're new here, we don't get outsiders but every few years, and even then they tend to have at least heard of the King of Limbs." He quirked his brow, that jog any memories?
"I think we may have seen this king then. It dragged some poor soul into a basement as we passed. Suppose it's a good thing I didn't try to stop him then." She nodded in thanks as she took a sip. "This is wonderful, thank you. So Crow works for that... the king?"
<Someone's coming up from the basement. Probably Crow.> Synna sent.
Guil nodded. "Very good. No idea what he would've done but everyone has heard a story about their neighbor's brother's cousin's son losing someone when they tried to keep a corpse from the King."
He sipped his tea. It wasn't very good, but it was warm. He shook his head.
"Not quite. There's a delicate balance all around, there. Everyone works for the King, nobody works for the King." He shivered. "Sorry for being evasive. It's a frightening topic. If you saw him you know."
Nodding, she took another drink. "It's quite alright. We didn't come to bat you around for the secrets of the city anyhow." She shot him a reassuring grin. "You can relax."
<Stay on guard, just in case.>
Comments