Water dripped down the stone walls and pooled on the rough cut steps leading into the bowels of Beacon castle.
"Watch your step," Ruby warned the Sorceress trailing behind her on the steps as they carefully picked their way down the tunnel. It took several minutes to reach the bottom but Ruby already knew what was waiting for her there. She could smell it before she saw it. The sharp tang of metal hung in the air. In this damp humid place the scent was unmistakable, even Weiss could probably smell it.
The tunnel had been left natural for the most part and in certain places held it even decorative carvings that looked to have been painted at one point. The constant water on the walls had washed away most of the barest hint of color remained, forever seeped into the stone.
Her torch illuminated only a few feet of the darkness in front of her at a time, just enough to be sure that her next few steps would be secure. The darkness was like tar, so thick it felt like she could reach out and touch it, even her superior eyesight couldn't pierce much of it.
She stepped lightly onto the flat ground and peered into the darkness. The smell was much stronger now.
'Should have brewed some Cat potion.' Ruby thought to herself, straining to see into the darkness. Her medallion was still so that took off some of the edge the darkness put her on.
Either reading her thoughts again or just observing the obvious darkness Weiss held out an upturned hand and chanted some words Ruby couldn't understand before a bright flash nearly blinded the Witcher as it banished the dark, illuminating the area. A glowing ball of light hovered just above Weiss's upturned hand.
They stood in a large cavern, with several tunnels leading elsewhere. The walls had been carved into long cubby holes that held whole and partial skeletons, some old and sometimes broken jars that no doubt held someone's ashes.
Ruby had been in her fair share of catacombs, tunnels and underground caverns over the years and no matter how many times she did she would never get over the prickling feeling of her senses on high alert.
Something about being underground just rubbed her the wrong way. It narrowed her options during fights and movement in general. As she usually did in these situations she recalled her mentor back at Kaer Morhen, his gruff but soothing voice always kept her grounded.
'Kid, you will always be the most dangerous thing in the room.'
With that thought, she carried on. Taking the time to inspect the room she found the smooth, gray stone walls reached up at least fifteen feet, as stalactites reached down toward the floor. This was obviously not where the past Kings of Vale were interred but perhaps those of significant rank. Celebrated generals, Dukes maybe? Many of the mostly intact skeletons still bore jewels and other valuable trinkets. The catacombs really had been forgotten if it hadn't yet been pillaged of such valuables since it had fallen into disuse. Of course that was often the case when such places were inhabited by monsters.
She took a closer look at the walls and found rows of skulls had been embedded in the wall as decoration going all around the room and Ruby frowned when upon closer inspection she noticed that all the skulls still in possession of their teeth had no canines; they weren't human skulls, but elves. Their empty eye sockets had been filled with carefully cut crystals. Upon closer inspection she realized they diamonds.
Some of them were missing their gems. Gouges around the socket telling her that they had been pried out, stolen.
The now illuminated room revealed what the darkness had kept hidden. Parts of bodies were strewn all across the floor in different states of decay and wholeness, though none were whole. Old dried blood covered most of the floor. Ruby leaned down and ran her leather clad fingers over the blood on the floor and it flaked away in pieces. It was old. All the stains seemed to be the same age. She couldn't pinpoint with much accuracy how old, but old enough that they had been there for more than a few weeks at the very least, close to the time they were said to have found the bodies.
Bones lay as scattered about as blood splatters, the splinters crunched under her boots as she carefully picked her way across the floor, inspecting several bodies. Most of the bones had been picked clean of flesh and a lot were missing altogether considering how many people she'd been told had gone missing. So whatever it was was eating meat and all. That ruled out some suspects but not nearly enough.
Weiss stood at her side, silently observing the Witcher examine the remains with a careful eye. She peered around at the various graves housed in the cavern.
Near every pile of remains the stone of the floor was pockmarked by obviously unnatural holes, the edges black and crusty.
She leaned down and sniffed curiously at the marks. Sharp, acrid, like chemicals.
'Acid.' She nodded to herself.
"What could have done this?" Weiss asked quietly, examining the remains from a distance.
"A lot of things, I need something more to be sure." Ruby replied distractedly as she scanned the room.
Trained on the task at hand Ruby followed a trail of dried blood toward a tunnel on the far left. Weiss followed, providing far better light than the torches. They followed the tunnel for about a hundred feet before it opened up into another cavernous room the same as the first, but only one large tunnel lead on past it. Ruby scanned the floor and walls as she walked, more claw marks littered the floor. She followed them to the entrance of the next tunnel.
Ruby stopped abruptly, causing Weiss to almost run into her as she bent down to peer at something laying on the ground.
She stood back up holding a something long and green.
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
"A feather." She said, holding up the long green feather in her hand. "I know what's making meals of the servants. Let's go back up."
They quickly tracked back through the tunnels and climbed back up the tunnel to Oobleck.
"You're back already? Have you found something?" He asked anxiously.
"I know what it is." She confirmed. He nodded.
"Excellent, let us talk over dinner, yes?" Both woman nodded to the suggestion
A couple hours later Ruby was happy to be freshly washed and sitting down to another delicious meal. Most of the servants were dismissed after the last of the food had been laid on the table.
She picked up the glass of wine that had been placed in front of her and took a large drink.
"Tell me, Witcher. What is it lurking in the catacombs below us?" Oobleck couldn't wait a moment longer. Weiss too was eager to know and glanced at her companion curiously.
Glancing back and forth at the steward and the Sorceress, Ruby swallowed the mouthful of wine in a gulp and set the cup back on the table.
"The monster in the catacombs is a basilisk." She said simply.
"A basilisk?" Oobleck repeated, looking at her over the top of the spectacles that had slid down his nose.
"Yeah. I found a basilisk feather in one of the tunnels. They like dark and humid places like caves, cellars… catacombs." She explained to them trying to give them her undivided attention but the delicious smells of the food in front of her was wreaking havoc on her sensitive nose.
Oobleck seemed to notice her eyeing the food.
"Please, please, there is no reason we can not eat and talk." He gestured to the food. She of course, did not need to be told twice. She missed Weiss rolling her eyes as she filled her plate.
She shoved a bite of glazed duck in her mouth and hummed delightedly. Jerky and hardtack had nothing on this.
"Tell us, Witcher. How does one fight a creature that can turn a being to stone with its very gaze?" He leaned forward, eager for her answer.
She swallowed the bite in her mouth and couldn't help but smile.
"I hate to tell you this, Oobleck, but that's just a myth. No basilisk has ever turned anything to stone." She smiled apologetically.
"Truly?" He seemed rather disappointed by the news. "What makes the basilisk such a danger then?"
"They can't turn anything to stone but their acid and venom is very real. They have some pretty sharp claws and teeth too." She told him.
"Fascinating. Will you be able to get rid of it?" That was the most important thing to the steward.
"That's what I do." Ruby grinned. "I need to prepare some things first. Come morning I'll go down to the village and get what I need and I'll head back down at nightfall."
"Excellent, most excellent!" Oobleck smiled broadly at the news.
Ruby spent the rest of the meal filling her stomach as the room's other two occupants talked about various politics and ongoings that she only half listened to as she helped herself to the food in front of her. Occasionally Oobleck directed a question concerning monsters to her and paid rapt attention as Ruby answered all his queries.
After a while Oobleck stood and bid them goodnight, instructing Ruby to treat the castle as her own home for the duration of her stay. She and Weiss followed suit, walking silently back to their rooms.
'I think I have some Mahakaman spirits...I'll have to go see the local herbalist for the dog tallow and ergot seeds… oh and blowball .' Ruby made a list of the ingredients she would be needing
"What on earth are you making?" Weiss finally broke the quiet.
"Do you enjoy reading my thoughts?" She asked in turn, looking at the Sorceress out of the corner of her eye.
"You were thinking so loud I imagine the guards could hear it." She countered. Ruby snorted.
"Witcher potions. They'll help protect me from it's venom. Being poisoned by a basilisk is no fun." She answered Weiss's earlier question.
"That sounds like the voice of experience…" Weiss cocked a brow in silent question. Ruby barked a laugh.
"Yeah. I was on the road when one came out of the woods and swiped me. Killed it, but I was miles from anywhere and had to wait it out. Took a day for it to move out of my system. I spent that day laying in the grass throwing up on myself..." She grimaced.
The look on the Sorceress's face made her chuckle despite herself.
"I was lucky." She defended. Weiss shot her a skeptical look. "Any normal person would have died within the hour." She argued. "Though I'd rather not have to do that again."
"I would imagine not…" They stopped in the hall in front of their respective rooms.
"Well, goodnight Weiss..." She started only for the Sorceress to interrupt her.
"I need you to come to my room." She said as though stating the weather.
"Uh… I…" Ruby stuttered, her mind a blank. Weiss didn't need to be able to read minds to see where Ruby's had gone. Her face flushed and she scowled though she looked more embarrassed than angry.
"We need to discuss the other reason we're here." She hissed, whipping around and flinging open her door before stomping inside.
"I knew that…" The Witcher mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. Her own face warmer than it had been.
She trailed behind Weiss and closed the door quietly behind her. The Sorceress chanted a quick spell, waving her glowing hand. Ruby's medallion hummed at the presence of magic.
"We can talk without anyone being able to listen now." She said as she walked across the room where three stands were set up in a triangular formation, each stand held a crystal of some sort. Ruby recognized the device as a megascope, like the one her sister kept in her workshop.
"Were you able to find any clues about who was abducting the servants?" She was straight to the point as she arranged the crystals in their holders.
"Not down there, no. For all I know right now, whoever it is could have been killed by the basilisk too. They did stop last month." She reasoned.
"Only because the bodies were found." Weiss argued.
"If I could investigate their rooms I might learn more." She offered. "Can you show me the last couple victims rooms tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'll have Oobleck put together a list." Weiss nodded.
A knock on the door stopped all conversation, they glanced wordlessly at each other before Weiss quickly crossed the room and opened the door, Ruby stood out of sight.
The same golden eyed, elven servant that had shown them to their rooms stood in the doorway holding a tray with a bottle of wine and a single glass.
"Mistress Schnee, Doctor Oobleck noticed how much the lady Witcher enjoyed the wine at dinner and sent this as compliments but she is not in her room."
"Set it down over there." She stood to the side, allowing the servant to enter and set the wine on the table before quickly retreating from the room. Weiss closed the door behind her and ensured her spell was still securely in place before turning around to find Ruby holding up the dark green bottle of wine.
"Chambertin de cru, from Toussiant." She smiled, delighted. "That was nice of him."
"He likes you." She confirmed, sitting at her vanity.
Using the provided corkscrew she popped the cork out and took a tentative sniff.
'This wine is older than I am.' She thought to herself. Perhaps predictably, Weiss had chosen that moment to hear her thoughts.
"How old would that be?" The Sorceress questioned as she arranged a few bottles sitting in front of her.
"Just seventy-eight. I'm still young." Ruby insisted, turning to look at Weiss who was now looking at her in the mirror's reflection.
"By whose count?" The Sorceress cocked a brow.
"How old are you?" Ruby demanded. Weiss sniffed at this.
"A lady never reveals her age." She countered loftily. Ruby rolled her eyes before going back to the wine.
"Want some?" She offered the Sorceress.
"No… Thank you." She amended upon seeing the Witchers pout in the mirror.
Ruby shrugged and walked back over to the bedside table to retrieve the solitary glass. Just as she reached for it a quiet rustling sound made her freeze.
Noticing how quiet it had become Weiss turned around to see the abnormally quiet Witcher.
"What is…" She stopped when Ruby threw up a hand for silence.
She turned toward the noise. It was coming from the bed.
'I hear something…' The Witcher silently told Weiss.
She watched silently and saw the hints of movement beneath the sheets.
With slow, measured movements she took the sheets between her fingers and yanked them back.
A copper colored snake sprung up hissing and barring two long fangs at her.
With lightning speed Ruby threw up her hand, casting the Aard sign and creating a gust of wind that flung it across the room and smacking hard against the wall where it lay still.
Weiss had jumped up and flung out her hand, a golden light shot from her fingers, hitting the snake, it twisted and flopped before laying still. Any doubts of whether or not it was still alive were quickly expelled.
Ruby quickly crossed the room and picked up the limp snake, Weiss hurried to her side.
"A Bronze Addar." Ruby said. "Very, very poisonous." She confirmed both their suspicions.
"I turned down the bed myself when we arrived and that was most certainly not there." Weiss eyed the limp snake warily.
"So much for my 'maybe the basilisk got them' theory." Ruby sighed. "We aren't welcome here." She concluded, glancing around the room cautiously.
"Obviously." Weiss frowned and cleared her throat. "I think I will have some wine after all."
Ruby chuckled dryly despite the glare now being directed her way.
"Help yourself, I'm gonna put this in my room." She said, gesturing to the limp snake in her hand.
"What in the world do you want that thing for?" Weiss shot her a strange look as she walked to the door.
"Herbalists pay good money for Addar venom so they can make antidotes." She explained simply.
"There might be a snake in your bed as well." Weiss warned.
"Maybe, but if there is they don't know who they're dealing with. I can survive a basilisk poisoning, this little guy might make me feel bad but it couldn't kill me." She waved away the Sorceress's concerns.
"I envy that ability." Weiss admitted quietly as she filled the single glass with wine.
Setting the dead snake by her things Ruby did a quick check for snakes or anything else out of the ordinary. Finding nothing she closed the door and made her way back across the hall.
Weiss was sitting back at the vanity, sipping on her glass of wine when Ruby came back in. Seeing no other option available she picked up the bottle and drank straight from it.
Weiss was giving her an exasperated look.
'You have the only glass.' She thought to the Sorceress with a shrug, her mouth full of wine as she sat herself on the side of the bed.
Weiss rolled her eyes and took a deeper drink from the glass.
"Gonna have to watch our backs till we find whoever's doing this." Ruby said, swirling the liquid in her bottle around.
"Yes, carefully check our rooms and our meals." Weiss agreed. She paused and looked at the glass of blood red liquid in her hand.
Practically hearing her thoughts, Ruby shook her head.
"I just opened the bottle, and this wine was meant for me, I would be able to smell a poison that strong." The Witcher assured. "Even if it was, at least this is a good one to die by." Ruby laughed to herself. Weiss was not half as amused by the joke as the Witcher. She looked at the blood red liquid, hesitating a moment before taking another long drink. She had already been drinking it, if it were truly poisoned it would make no difference now.
More than that, she trusted Ruby's words and her nose. "It is in both our best interests to get this done as quickly as possible, I don't enjoy the threat of assassination hanging over my head." The Sorceress grumbled.
"It's always part of the job for me." Ruby shrugged, taking another long swig and sighed. "But yeah. The monsters usually make themselves known, they don't try to poison my dinner." She admitted.
"I'll ward both our rooms, we'll at least have some security through the night." Weiss said, turning back to face the mirror.
Ruby raised the bottle back to her lips but stopped as the Sorceress pulled the tie out of her hair, causing a curtain of silvery white hair to spill across her exposed shoulders and back. It was like quicksilver and she was struck by a sudden urge to run her fingers through it and see if it was as soft and silky as it looked.
She caught a glimpse of Weiss's darkening face in the mirror and knew her thoughts had been heard. She practically flung herself off the bed as though it had burnt her and quickly walked to the door.
"I should be getting to bed." She hurried to excuse herself from the embarrassing situation.
"Of course." Weiss said, her voice had taken on an odd timbre. "I can ward your room from outside." She said.
Ruby nodded and grabbed the door handle.
"Ruby…" Weiss's voice stopped her. "Thank you... I wouldn't have noticed that snake till I had been bitten."
She glanced over her shoulder and met the Sorceress's blue gaze.
"You're welcome." She jerked her head in a short nod before opening the door and walking out into the hall.
She let out a deep breath.
'Weiss is attractive but you are here to do a job, damnit.' She dragged her right hand down her face but paused. 'Can she still hear me?' She huffed and took another drink from the bottle.
This job might be longer than she thought.
Starting to get traction in the story. Enjoy.~ Malthazar LOS
[Ruby's gonna make some moves soon enough I bet! Super excited for it] -ODST110
