|Nuada|
The elf prince blew on his tea before taking a slow sip. It was just sweet enough, with a hint of spices usually never present. Inclining his head towards Wink to thank his longtime friend for the beverage he took the moment to unwind for a bit. With his training ended the pixies moved towards the center of the room again, their human companion not far behind.
Nuada's mood turned sour when he looked at the small corner the woman had claimed for herself in his personal space. Instead of on a mattress she slept on a pile of clothes the pixies had brought. The conflict inside him arose every time he laid eyes on it; he was allowing a woman to sleep in such conditions, but she was human and he didn't want to accommodate to the species.
Their eyes crossed for a moment, one corner of her mouth twisting to the side as if she couldn't decide between a smile or a frown. Granted, she tried to be forthcoming. Those moods usually lasted until he spoke his mind. The history lessons continued however. He'd noted the pixies had been lax with anything that didn't relate to their own kind.
"Would you mind if I take the human out for a walk?" Wink asked him, taking a deep swig from the bottle next to him.
Nuada didn't know what to think of that. Wink had been showing signs of fondness for the creature. Either his friend tried to save Nuada the indignity of accompanying her or he wanted to make sure Rhianwen's mood didn't suffer from his company. Perhaps a mixture of both was the most logical assumption. He sipped his delicious tea before he spoke. "Has she made the request to you then?"
Wink nodded, his voice a low rumble. "That's why she made the tea today, she thought it might put you in a better mood."
Something stuck in his windpipe, causing him to violently cough on his drink. Perhaps there was a tad of bitterness in there he hadn't noted before. Poison was always a possibility with her.
"Don't choke, prince. I wouldn't know what to do without you," Nuada frowned when he heard the woman whisper those words. She still underestimated his hearing, or his capability of understanding sarcasm.
"If you can stand having to watch the nuisance I won't stop you," the prince muttered darkly, putting the mug of tea to the side. It really wasn't to his tastes anyway.
|Rhianwen|
"Say Wink, are there any other elves who live in the sewers?" Rhianwen asked the troll as they slowly ambled in the deeper recesses of said structure. It seemed Nuada had set up camp in a rather deserted part where even water was scarce most of the times. Perhaps all in all that was a good thing or they would all have perished in the smell a long time ago.
Lenore translated to pixie for Rhianwen. "Only his royal highness has chosen this place as his dwelling. He refuses to live in luxury while so many of the fae are without homes."
Rhianwen let out a sigh when she heard that. If people heard Nuada described like that he sounded like an actual good prince who cared deeply about his subjects. Which wasn't even a lie, he just had a horrible attitude when it came to humans. And she even tried so hard to do something nice for him, if only making him a cup of cavity-inducing tea.
"I'd like him better if he didn't scowl so every time he sees me. His face goes like this."
Her imitation got a few titters from the pixies that had accompanied her while Wink grumbled in caution. Rhianwen waved her hand in the air. "I know, I know. I don't want to insult him. It just makes living with him a tad easier."
Their peaceful if unconventional outing was disturbed when a stone moved somewhere in front of them. At once their group stopped. When Wink was about to move in front of her Rhianwen stopped him, grabbing a fist of the fur on his arm. Shaking her head she pointed behind them. If there was trouble ahead she wanted none of it. She had enough to deal with as things were.
They'd taken two steps back when eyes glinted in the dim light cast by her torch. The thing growled when it saw them, nails clicking on hard stone as it approached. In times like these any sensible pixie and pixie-raised human could only reach one conclusion.
"Run!" she shouted, taking her own advice.
Of course Wink wasn't following. The troll had decided to take a stance against the creature. Rhianwen moaned, making a decision that went against her every instinct. She turned around and ran back to Wink, ordering the pixies to get back to Nuada's place. With a little luck the prince wouldn't have to scrape them from the wall.
"Wink, can we go? Maybe it won't attack if we leave," Rhianwen pleaded with the troll. Panting sounds came closer from two sides of them, the only way out the corridor in which she had just tried to run into.
She caught sight of the creature in front of Wink briefly. It walked on all fours and reminded her of a dog. Until it stepped into the light.
If the mouth filled with sharp teeth wasn't bad enough, or the four eyes and tentacle-like appendages around its head, there was still the way the eyes seemed completely dark. Shadows.
"Fuck my life," she whispered. So the thing didn't look like a dog at all when it stepped into the light. More like something her nightmares could have conjured up. Spending time with Nuada started to look mighty appealing right now.
She wanted to run so bad right now. But Wink didn't show any signs of moving, instead roaring at the dog in front of him. Rhianwen turned around to see the other creature coming closer to them. "Wink… let's run. Dear heavens, let's run. I don't want them to catch us."
For a moment she considered running. Wink looked pretty strong, maybe he would be alright. Honor was for idiots who could actually handle a weapon. Running like the wind was for creatures that actually liked living.
The troll still gave no sign of running. At least all of the pixies had listened to her. Pip was going to give her hell if she survived this. The thing in front of her jumped at her, making her scream. Before it reached her she was knocked to the side by Wink, hitting the wall with such force she lost her balance. While Wink was battling the one creature its partner came for her, dark shadows pouring from the eyes.
Rhianwen batted the torch at it. The fire didn't scare the thing. All it did was knock the flame from her hands. It was watching her. The shadows seemed to flicker inside of it. They clearly had learned a lot judging from the way they were giving Wink trouble.
The other thing was thrown on the flame by Wink, howling in pain before the flames died out. With what looked like a grin in the flickering light it placed a paw on the torch. The flames sputtered. The stench of burning flesh reached her nostrils.
Darkness.
Rhianwen had heard about one sense becoming stronger when you lost another. For now it just meant she could hear her own heart pounding even better. Wink spoke to her in the dark before his voice became muffled by something. Rhianwen tried to stand, leaning towards where she had heard Wink last. She should have run when she had the chance.
Something warm and leathery knocked her to the ground again before she had gotten even close to Wink. The creature's breath was rank, pouring over her in hot waves. A cold feeling traveled up her legs, pinning her to the ground. She couldn't see anything. There was only the feeling of something almost dragging her in the stone floor and the sound of Wink trying to break loose.
"Let go of me!" she commanded, trying to kick. When her feet wouldn't move she stomped a fist in front of her. On impact the creature lunged towards her face, teeth snapping shut just before reaching her. The cold feeling became stronger as her chest became constricted as well.
"We have found the Sphere," a gritty voice announced. She could barely hear it over the pounding of her heart.
No, no, no! She remembered once again what Pip had told her, what the shadows would do to her. Why did he have to tell her that? Taking a deep breath she closed her mouth, not wanting them to take the Sphere back. If they got it back it would kill her.
The cold feeling reached her head, enveloped her. Suddenly her nose felt clogged as if someone had stuck their fingers in it. Prickles like ice forming ran along her lips, waiting for her to open up. Pressure started to build in her chest, not aided by the cold squeezing in on her from all sides. Rhianwen closed her eyes, trying to stay calm. Wink was here, she wasn't alone. She wasn't a little girl anymore, cowering underneath her blankets in the dark.
But eventually she did have to breathe. The moment she couldn't hold it any longer the ice invaded her mouth. Rhianwen tried to scream but something was in her throat, stifling any sound she could have hoped to make. The feeling continued, deeper and deeper. Something seemed to scrape with every inch it moved inside of her.
Tears had formed in the corners of her eye. Her body couldn't even jerk with the pressure put on her, as if an anchor was weighing her down. And still the cold feeling wasn't satisfied. It groped around inside her, hurting her with every movement. Judging from the intensity it was feeling impatient, as if didn't find what it wanted right away.
And then suddenly the cold withdrew from her. As soon as she could she gasped for air, before turning to the side and spitting out blood. The weight on her body had disappeared. She hardly noticed because her ragged breathing was hurting her ever more. When Wink's hands picked her up she didn't react to his presence. All she did was flinch from the cold metal of his prosthetic.
|Nuada|
He had found both Wink and Rhianwen fairly quickly, though he could tell at a glance he had not been swift enough. Wink looked fairly well apart from a few shallow gashes in his fur. The woman was in worse shape. When he had asked her what had happened she had merely shaken her head. Her eyes had glistened dangerously, dirt spread over her cheeks. She looked like someone who had just been dragged to hell.
On their way back she hadn't said a word. Sometimes she stopped walking and took rapid, short breaths. Nuada feared she would pass out but the action seemed to calm her down enough. The elf had judged her well enough until they had reached his home where she rushed outside all of a sudden. When he had checked on her he had been in time to see how she coughed up blood.
"You should have said you were injured," he admonished her sternly.
Rhianwen shook her head, not looking at him. "Hurts."
The one word clearly had taken a lot out of her. When he pressed her to tell what had happened to her - Wink had told him what he knew already - she placed her hands in front of her. The mortal swallowed. "Wait?"
The situation irritated him. Not only was it obvious that she was hurt while he had promised to protect her but the shadows had not acted like they had been supposed to. Something had stopped them from taking the Sphere and he needed to know what. Almost mechanically he poured some tea in a mug for her. It had been brewing for hours so it would probably taste bitter as hell. To counteract he made sure to add in sufficient honey.
Rhianwen pulled a face when she sipped the tea, clearly trying to keep the liquid inside of her. When she looked up at him she mouthed a silent thank you. Nuada felt a restlessness at the thanks he hadn't expected. The pixies had swarmed around her, chattering among themselves and reassuring her.
But there was something in the mortals eyes he had not seen before. Though she had been afraid of him now he could see the purer form of fear written on her face. The ordeal had terrified her. Nuada assumed the emotion had been lessening for now, and was subsiding as he waited.
Nuada reached for his lance, playing with it. What had he gotten himself into? And how was he going to get them out of it?
|Far Away|
A plump hand dropped a fistful of pearls in a jade bowl, the owner waiting on a chaise longue for news about her Sphere. The shadows were taking too long again. How long was it that the brat had been eluding her? Fortuna was not known for her patience and yet in this matter she had been forced to have nothing than patience. Perhaps it was a virtue for lesser beings, but for a goddess it was an inconvenience at best.
She glanced at the Oneiroi brothers who she had invited should worse come to pass. Morpheus gazed off into the distance, humming a distant tune. Phantasos was juggling with some rubies he had found, creating bizarre light spectacles on the ground and Phobetor was busy glaring at her.
"Why do we have to wait for your shadows, Fortuna? We have better things to do."
Fortuna offered him a languid smile in return, flicking her hand to conjure up more wine. "Because, I need you to be here. My shadows might have gotten a trace of the girl. I can't find her in the world of the mortals but you can, when she touches the world of dreams."
Phantasos twirled the rubies in the shape of an eight. "How long is it since you've been chasing the mortal? Over at least a-"
"Long enough," Fortuna interrupted him. She didn't like being reminded about failures unless she was the cause of them.
The beginning squabble was quenched when a shadow manifested in the room. Phobetor sniffed the air as the scent of mortal blood caught draft in the incense-drenched air. Fortuna listened to the report of the shadow and screeched in annoyance.
"The little twit has merged with my Sphere!"
This meant she had no choice but to force the insect in submission. The shadow offered her the blood it had collected. Fortuna squeezed it in her hands, letting the liquid fill her senses. Soon she knew everything about the brat that she needed to know. At least the mortal - Rhianwen - was pretty enough. With some work she could make a decent furbishing in her temple.
"Morpheus, Phantasos, Phobetor. Can you track her down with this?"
The brothers all received some of the blood of the mortal. Each of them let out a satisfied grunt when they considered the information they got.
"How deep she sleeps, even when anxious. Not once does she stir out of fear of waking her little companions," Morpheus commented with a dreamy sigh.
"How rich her dreams are, filled with the treasures of a lost past. It's no wonder she loves the time of stars or the taste of wine," Phantasos seemed equally pleased with the mortal and her dreams. The deity of fantastic reveries dropped the rubies in his contemplation of her potential.
Phobetor was more guarded in his reply but even he did not manage to keep back a smile. The dark-haired of the three brothers nodded slowly. "Her dreams are filled to the brim with a blood-curdling fear. So many things she dreads and she doesn't even know half of them."
"That's all very nice but can you find her? When she sleeps, will you be able to find her?" Fortuna asked them, playing with one of her golden rings.
"Perhaps not this night or the next, but we will find her," Phantasos nodded, considering their chances of finding the girl. "She already believes in your existence, which grants us a certain measure of power over her as well. What do you want us to do?"
Fortuna didn't have to waste a second considering that. "I want her begging to serve me. Make her dream whatever is necessary until she is ready to serve me. In a month and a half is the most auspicious time for pledging service to one of our pantheon. I would have her ready by then."
The goddess of Luck considered her options for a moment. "I will lure her away from her little protector when you have located her. Then it is up to you."
The brothers exchanged a glance among themselves. Phantasos smiled with more gusto than he had all day long. "Well then, brothers mine, how shall we go about breaking the mortal?"
Morpheus yawned, staring into the distance. His platinum hair covered one eye as he nearly closed his eyes. "I'll send her into sleep with a sweet kiss, so that she will not wake until the day comes."
Phantasos grinned at the words. "Then I will send her into her fondest dream with a passionate kiss so that she will reach the very top of her imagination."
Then the two gods looked at their youngest brother who leaned back against a pillar as if he did not care about where their plans would lead a petty mortal. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a grimace. "Then my tender kiss will finish the job and turn the dream into her worst nightmare. One from which she will never escape until Morpheus allows her to wake up."
Fortuna smiled. Finally things were starting to look up for her again.
I had been planning for Abe to appear in this chapter but it just didn't fit like I wanted it to. Hopefully Sammael will have been a somewhat nice surprise in Abe's stead then.
ita-chan 01 : Thank you for liking the story!
heather schmidt : better late than never I suppose? It'll get finished eventually though ^^
Wanda Inscherr : I'm happy to hear you liked the chapter ^^ Nuada is pretty handsome but making fun of him is great as well.
Azera-v : Thanks for the compliment! ^^