14: Guilds and curses
"Hurry!" Rihn shouted to the others as the sprinted across the crossroads. The sound of approaching hoof beats warned the members of Wingless that a Ragelope was just around the corner. They had only seconds to flee before it would be right on top of them. The path away was so close, they could make it just as long as the monster didn't- Just as the five made it across the clearing the ragelope's shriek rang through the forest. "I think we lost it..!" Pat panted as he finally slowed to a stop. "Yeah.. Is everyone okay?" Caili asked as she looked once more behind them. "I am. What about you Loi?" Lynn asked, she looked over at her brother and screamed as flame whistled past her face. "Loi?! What's the matter with you?" Lynn shrieked, so angry she didn't notice Rihn withdrawing her sword. "Look out Lynn!" Pat shouted as he parried away the blow that would've taken Lynn's life. "Rihn?" Lynn asked, bewildered. Joining Pat and Lynn, Caili looked from Loi to Rihn. "A side-effect from the Ragelope's scream is confusion! Look at their eyes!" She said, pointing towards their faces. Rihn's eyes were clouded over, as were Loi's. "How do we snap them out of it?" Lynn asked as she dodged another fireball. "I have to administer the healing to them! But to do that, you have to get them to stop moving!" Caili explained as she pulled two medicines that cured confusion from her bag. "Alright then, sorry about this, bro, but you're going down!" Lynn declared as she reached for one of her blunted arrows. "Just focus on drawing his fire away while I get Rihn's attention. Caili, we'll be depending on you after that!" Pat yelled to his lucid teammates as he forcefully parried another sword strike from Rihn. "Right." Lynn quipped as she shot the arrow towards Loi's shoulder.
Arianna shuffled the cards with a professional air, definitely the skill of someone who has done it at least a dozen times previous Tal noted as he watched. "You know the rules of the Lying game?" Arianna asked as she dealt out ten cards to herself and Tal. "If I'm not mistaken, we each take on turn to put down a card in numerical order. The first to lose their cards first is the winner." Tal said nonchalantly as he picked up his hand. Arianna nodded as she left the rest of the cards in a stack. "The cards are placed facedown, so you may put down any card at any given moment saying its something it's not. If you suspect a lie has been told, then you simply call liar. If you are correct, I pick up two cards. If you're wrong, then you pick up two. Simple, no?" She finished with a flourish as she picked up her cards. "You challenge a fortune teller to a game of reading people... Very cocky. I hope you're prepared for defeat." Tal chuckled as he pulled a single card from his hand. "One more thing. If you're caught in three lies in a row, then you have to pick up all the cards previously laid down. Understood?" Tal nodded, then began the game. "I lay down one two." Arianna watched as he did that with pursed lips. Deftly she pulled two cards from her hand and laid it on the single card Tal put down. "Two threes." She countered. Tal chuckled. "I thought you'd be a better liar. I'm calling that claim a false one." He said triumphantly. Arianna's expression didn't change as she drew two cards from the deck. "My turn, I lay down two fours." Tal continued as he put down the cards. "One five." Arianna said as she pulled a card out. Tal grinned wolfishly. "Liar."
Lynn ducked as a fireball once more flew at her. Even confused, her brother had excellent aim. She dodged left as she withdrew another arrow and fired it. Loi mirrored her motions and dodged it with the same amount of accuracy. Another different movement from Loi made Lynn gasp, he had removed six cards from his pockets, yet, instead of throwing them with his usual attack, his hands started moving in different ways. With the quick succession of six different gestures, the cards began to glow red. Loi threw the cards in the air as Lynn watched, befuddled. However, she quick realized this was her chance. Quickly, she withdrew three arrows and fired them, one after another at Loi. As the arrows flew, three of the glowing cards burst into flames and rushed the arrows. The arrows were burnt to a crisp, but the flames kept progressing the same path that the arrows had flew on and spiraled towards Lynn. There was no way she could dodge it, the three were circling in from different directions. "CAILI STOP HIM NOW!" Lynn shrieked as she brought her arms up in a last minute attempt to guard. She felt the heat raze her face and then give out just as fast. Caili stood over Loi', who was slumped over on the ground. "There, got him." She said, relieved. "You couldn't have done that any faster." Lynn groaned as she felt as her face, making sure it was still intact. Rihn was already passed out, Pat had picked her up and had her slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I feel an odd sense of deja veu." Lynn continued as she knelt beside her brother. "I don't think it's deja veu if it actually already happened." Caili pointed out as she looked for something to wake Loi from his stupor. "Whatever." Lynn grumbled under her breath.
Tal was already down to five cards while Arianna had a full hand of fifteen cards. Tal smiled as he put down another card. "One queen." A bluff, but with the girl's streak of luck there would be no way she'd call it- "Liar." Arianna interrupted his chain of thoughts. Tal shrugged and picked up two cards. No matter, one fluke. It didn't mean she would make a come back. "Three kings." Arianna continued as she put down three cards. Tal rolled his eyes, but while he did so, he opened his palm. As a hex castor, Tal could both place charms on people and objects. The foreign mask hanging on the curtain behind Arianna looked fitting with the décor of the room, but it also let Tal see through it's eyes whenever he triggered the spell. This had proven quite useful in the game. Surprisingly, she hadn't been lying when she said she put down three kings. Tal narrowed his eyes and put down two cards. "Two aces." Tal said sternly. "Liar." Arianna claimed with the same seriousness. Tal, once more looked surprised, and then picked up two cards. One more and he'd have to pick up the stack in the middle. There were at least fourteen cards in there, it would be hard to recover a win if he had to pick them all up. It was also then he looked up and noticed the smirk that appeared on Arianna's face.
Exhausted, the five members of wingless made their way to the staircase that led to the floor above. The going was slow, as Rihn and Loi were partially in shock from the Ragelope's scream. "How could I have hurt you guys..?" Rihn kept muttering. Eventually, it was Hali who shut her up.
"You've hurt everyone at least once. Now suck it up, at least it wasn't intentional."
The locket hissed.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Thankfully, the first floor was much less difficult and they made it to the entrance with ease. "A nap would be nice right about now." Pat contemplated as they walked up the stairs. Lynn went to agree but a sudden movement from the top of the stairs caught her words back. Another guild was walking down the stairs. For a few brief seconds, the two groups looked at each other in surprise. "Well! I was beginning to think we were always the only ones in the labyrinth." A red-headed Landsknecht boomed happily. A very young looking Survivalist smiled at them. "Oh, don't mind us. We're just very new at this!" He apologized profusely. "Uh, no it's fine. Nice to meet you, it's cool to see other guilds once in a while, even if it's briefly." Lynn smiled sheepishly. A white-haired dark hunter simply rolled his eyes and continued walking down the stairs until he saw Rihn. The two froze as they stared at each other. The loud Landsknecht warmly put a hand on the hunter's shoulder. "Aww, love at first sight it looks like." He laughed. Snapping back and brushing off his hand, the Dark hunter merely growled as he continued walking down the stairs. "Sorry bout that. Guess we'll be on our way! By the way, I'm Luther, the survivalist is Twilly and the grouch was M. Yeah, just the letter, kinda weird, but he's a character alright! Maybe we can meet again later for a drink!" Luther called as he continued walking down the stairs. Twilly waved as he followed his friend down. Wingless watched them walk away before they turned to each other, sharing a shrug. "They seemed nice." Loi said as they approached the pink portal.
"How are you doing this?" Tal demanded, standing in a rage as Arianna whittled her card stack down to two. "Sit down, the game is almost over." She said jovially. "This is impossible! You're cheating somehow!" He shouted, turning over the table they were playing at. Arianna never even flinched. "So is this forfeit?"
Tal anger was barely contained long enough for him to begin chanting. The bell hanging around his neck chimed once, noting the start of a curse. Now Arianna lost her cool, in an instant she was on her feet with her dagger withdrawn.
The dark energy forming around Tal sapped Arianna of her strength, she knew she would have mere moments to take action.
If she tried lunging for Tal, the energy would take her. Thinking quickly and having realization dawn on her, Arianna spun on her heel to the mask hanging on the wall and dug her dagger into the eye sockets. The chanting was replaced with a scream. Arianna turned to see Tal on his knees, hands over both his eyes. "Enchantments are a two-way street. I recommend you rethink how you scam people in the future." Arianna said breathlessly as he strength slowly returned to her. Tal merely screamed in agony.
He had learned his lesson. Even though she hadn't learn the identity of the person wanted to spy on them, she crippled the man who did the spying. It wouldn't hold them back for long, but it'd give her a head start. "Pleasure doing business with you." She grunted as she put her dagger back in her boot and left the shadowy room.