Of Kings and Shadows

[Morigan]

Calia Tathariel swatted what had to be the hundredth mosquito off her skin, this one on her neck, and cursed once more her decision to follow Newt's shady lead.


"Oh, it's just on the other side of Direfallow Swamp," she mimicked under her breath, repeating her contact's words. "Well I hate swamps. And bugs that steal my blood," she shooed another mosquito away, "and now I think I hate Newt. I mean, I wouldn't be talking to myself in this cursed place if it wasn't for him." Calia knew she was nearing the edge of the swamp, but she couldn't seem to get through it fast enough. The late summer day's sun and trapped moisture in the dank wetlands had made her a sweaty, grimy mess. Her blonde braid was limp and only restrained about half of her long hair at this point, the rest was plastered with sweat to her forehead and neck. "I'm going to get to this valley and there probably won't even be anything there."


Calia was in her third day of this trek, hoping to find a mysterious man said to reside in the secluded Grey Birch Valley. She had hoped to find the missing King of the realm but years of disappointment had taught her to be skeptical. Most likely this 'mysterious man' that no one had ever spoken to was no more than an oddly shaped log or tree, but Calia could not afford to pass up any clue. Which was how she had landed herself in this situation. She had taken this quest upon herself when she was but fifteen years old, and now-seven years later- she was no closer than she had been on her first day searching. Really, this was all her uncle's fault. Orphaned at a young age, Calia had been raised by her Uncle Gavin. Unfortunately when the King had vanished, Uncle Gavin had taken advantage of the situation, stealing from travelers who were searching for the monarch and conning honest people into parting with their coin for his "leads" on the King's whereabouts- all fake of course. The disgrace he brought down upon the family shamed Calia deeply and she was determined to restore honor to her family, if only for her dead parents' good names.


"Ouch!" Calia stubbed her toe on a boulder, drawing her mind from her musings. She looked up and saw that she had finally reached the edge of the swamp, and the valley was not far beyond. A soft babbling reached her ears and she smiled, gray eyes lighting with relief. There was a small stream nearby...perfect.


Calia dropped her pack by the bank and waded into the cool water, sinking down and letting it wash the sweat and dirt away. She sighed happily and undid her hair, letting the current swirl it about her shoulders as she washed.


When she was satisfied that all traces of the swamp were cleaned from her body and clothes, Calia returned to the riverbank and set about making a small fire to dry out her clothes before she continued on. Night was not too far off and she had not desire to spend it in damp clothing.


As her clothes dried out, Calia leaned back against a sturdy tree trunk and closed her eyes, enjoying the small respite in her journey...

 

[Syrrus]

"This place stinks." Came a voice not far from Calia. Stepping out from between a few trees. Valerik stretched and yawned loudly. He hated the swamp. That being said, he didn't much like any other place either. He wasn't a negative person by nature but by nurture. He had learned that the world was a evil little place, never mind the fact that he hated people. People were the cause of evil after all. Nature itself wasn't all that bad, as long as it leaved him alone. He was lucky enough though that the flying bugs that acted like some sort of vacuum cleaners when it came to sucking blood, didn't seem to like him at all. Maybe his blood type wasn't what they preferred?


Valerik walked toards the river, he hadn't even noticed the female which wasn't very much like him. He was a tracker by nature after all and the fact that something so obvious slipped him by was just proof that he was getting old. Well, not too old. He peered at the sky wich was darkening slowly and took a deep-breath only to get a bug stuck in his windpipes. Coughing the man started to wave his arms around, rather insulted that an insect wanted to become part of his systems. Disgusting. He hated nature.


Shivering, the young man sat down upon a rock and fished out a harmonica from his tiny bag that was hanging neatly from one of his many belts. He dusted it off and patted it gently to make sure nothing were stuck inside of it before placing it against his lips. He enjoyed spending time on his own, what other reason would he have to be a hermit? To simply sit alone and play music on his old friend was the good part of life. Even if it did attract quite a few of the wildlife. Most animals had enough sense to stay away from something that sounded so strange but others seemed to find it intriguing and always got a little bit too close. Like monkeys. Luckily there were no monkeys in the swamp. Only pesky rats, alligators and bugs. Bugs the size of his head.


He stopped playing for a moment, snffing the air like a dog. What was that smell? He hadn't sensed anything quite like it in a long while. Slowly he started to look around it was then he realized that whatever he could sense were sitting right behind him. He jumped and craned his neck quickly just to spot a woman sitting by one of the trees. Shouting in surprise. Especially since he realized that she even had managed to lit a fire without him noticing, never mind the fact that she wasn't wearing any...


"Cloths!" He shouted in surprise and threw his hands in the air, causing himself to fall backwards into the sand. Blushing like he had never blushed before.

 

[Morigan]

A shout nearby startled Calia from her reverie, and she jumped up in surprise, snatching her knife from the ground next to her and looking about. She spied a young man sitting in the sand, his face turning a peculiar shade of red...was he blushing? As her wariness faded a bit, Calia realized her clothes were still laid out, and though they were now dry, they were not on her person. She narrowed her eyes at the man, considering him.


"Either you have bungled your attempt to attack me unaware and are now ashamed...or you have never seen a woman unclothed before?" she asked. While she waited for his answer she grabbed her tunic and pulled it swiftly over her head, covering herself well enough for the moment since it fell to mid-thigh on her. The leggings and boots would have to wait though, because Calia was not going to drop her knife.


"If you are following me, I'd like to know why and who told you where I was headed..." she said harshly. "If Newt has set me up, I swear..." she trailed off, muttering under her breath.

 

[Syrrus]

Raising his harmonica in the air as some form of peace sign, trying his hardest not to stare at the young ladies private arias. He wasn't a ruffian! Never mind the fact that he was used to be lonely and never expected to see anyone but himself butt naked. He get up on his feet and continued to try his hardest to look inconspicuous. "To be honest, I didn't expect to see anyone this far away from the local village... never mind nude." He scratched the back of his head as he peered at her and then quickly looked away again. He didn't quite understand why he was trying to explain himself to her, nor anyone else for that matter. He just felt extremely nervous. These situations wasn't supposed to happen in the wild.


" I wasn't following you!" She had at least put on a tunic, that was better than standing in nothing at all. He glared at her, getting annoyed for being so accused. "I was just looking around, I don't live too far away from here." A lie, a white lie but a lie none the less. It didn't really matter if he lived close or not, he supposed. What he was doing out there was his business and his alone. "Besides, I was just sitting here. Why were you being all quite without announcing yourself? Perhaps you're the one trying to trick me. In.. whatever way that would be."

 

[Morigan]

Seeing that he was brandishing a harmonica and not a weapon, Calia relaxed and lowered her knife. She scoffed at his accusations of her, "Yes..quite right. I was following a wandering, uh, musician? Or whatever you are, and I thought...'hmm, let me lie here naked and asleep! It's the perfect trap!' Hah!" The sarcasm practically dripped from her words. "I was resting, and even if I hadn't been I don't wander around yelling my presence constantly." She crossed her arms, staring at him.


After a moment she sighed and relented. "I'm sure we can stand here all afternoon accusing each other, but let us just assume we both were expecting to be alone. If you will turn around, I will finish dressing myself..." she trailed off. Now that the adrenaline and fear of being under attack were fading, Calia felt embarrassment creeping up on her. Though she was not ashamed of her body she never flaunted it, especially in front of strangers. She gathered the rest of her clothes in her arms and waited for his response.

 

[Syrrus]

"You don't need to be so pissy. I never actually meant that you were trying to attack me or anything." He folded his arms and quickly turned around, letting the girl get dressed without his eyes on her. He couldn't help but feel a little bad for treating her the way he did, not that it was his fault... How would he have known that there would be a naked woman waiting for him around the corner? He wished more women like that was waiting for him to be honest.


"So eh- Sorry about that, I didn't meant to stare at you." He mumbled and started to study his harmonica as if he had never seen it before. He placed it against his lips and played a few notes before continuing to speak. "I'm Valerik, by the way. Valerik Fontain." Not that it matter who he was, he doubted that she wanted to have a light conversation with someone who had seen her without her knickers on.

 

[Morigan]

As he turned around Calia quickly pulled her leggings on, followed by her boots. "It's fine, it happened- can't undo it. I'm Calia Tathariel. You can turn back around now, by the way." She picked up her wide leather belt and buckled it loosely around her hips and slung her vest across her shoulders. "So...are you a minstrel or something?" she asked, gesturing at the harmonica in his hands before she bent to start collecting her many weapons.


A thin knife slid into her boot, two more in back of her belt and a wicked looking dagger and handful of throwing blades vanished into pockets on her vest. "And pissy is kind of my natural state, unfortunately," she said with a small laugh to herself while she began braiding her wet hair. When she had finished she tossed the long brain over her shoulder. She then stomped out the remainder of her small fire and picked up her pack, quiver, and bow, once again ready to move on.

 

[Syrrus]

"A what-- No!" He turned around quickly, hiding the harmonica behind his back with a frown. He assumed he understood where she had gotten that idea but it still made him feel rather frustrated. Did he really look that simple and boring? "I'm a hunter." He said, pouting slightly. "Not a hunter of deer or bears but of monsters. You know, the dragons and strange creatures that has appeared around the world?" He doubted that she would have missed them. Valerik didn't know what had happen with the world but it had all happened over night it seemed, all over the place. He bit his lip in thought. "I heard it has something to do with the ruler so I'm out to look for it."


The man shrugged and went to sit back down over the rock, patting his harmonica before placing it between his lips and playing a few more notes. "Though I doubt that will happen. It's been what... twenty years since we had a ruler on the throne? I bet there was no successor to the last one." He added before he started to play, waiting for her to either continue the conversation or otherwise. He continued watching her while playing with blue eyes.

 

[Morigan]

She paused in her motions, meeting his blue eyes and staring at him appraisingly. He seemed annoyed by her question, perhaps even offended, though she was uncertain why. "I, too, am searching for our missing monarch. I have been for seven years..." she trailed off. "So- a monster hunter then. I meant no offense, you know." She moved to the riverbank and knelt down to refill her two canteens with the cool, fresh water. "Myself, I tend to avoid dragons. Not a fan of fiery deaths and all that."


She looked up to see the sun begin to sink behind the distant hills. "It will soon be dark, and I can not linger here. Far too open to pass the night."

 

[Syrrus]

"You hardly have to worry about dragons out here." He added and patted his harmonica before putting it back in his pack. He decided that perhaps it was for the best to approached the young lady and shake her hand. Act civilized in some fashion or other. "I'm Valerik, sorry that I scared you earlier. I mean no harm." He reached out his hand and gave her a crocked smile. He wasn't certain how to do these sort of things. He was hermit, a no body and had not encounter another human being for years.


"Perhaps we should travel together?" He asked, carefully. It was a bold move. Something that made him feel rather uncomfortable. "If you don't mind that is. Only for a while, the swamp is a dangerous place to travel alone. One wrong step and you'll never see the light of day again."

 

[Morigan]

Calia had just stood back up from the riverbank when the man approached her. He extended his hand and apologized...how extraordinarily polite. She took his hand after a moment and shook it quickly. "Calia." She looked at him curiously, noting that he seemed a bit uncomfortable still. She wondered if people in general made him uneasy, or if it was just her.


Calia was still considering his demeanor when he suggested they travel together, something she had not expected. Her first instinct was to say no, since she distrusted pretty much everyone, but something made her hesitate. Perhaps it would not be so bad to have a second pair of eyes around, at least until they cleared the swamp. Valerik was right- it was easy to just vanish if you made even a simple mistake. "All right. Just until we're out of this swamp though..." She turned and headed west, following the last rays of the sun.


"Do you know this area well, then?" she asked him.

 

[Syrrus]

Even though it had very little, if anything at all to do with him; he couldn't help but be curious about why the stranger wanted to find the ruler. He figured it had something to do with the world ending, the whole big reason that everyone had. Valerik simply thought people needed more than that reason to travel the world in search for a person that might not might not even exist. Not that he had a bigger reason. He simply wanted the dark ones, the elder gods and the monsters to crawl back into whatever hole they had come from. It was dangerous enough to travel the world.


The water of the swamp was poisonous. The raptors on land and the alligators in the deep was flesh eaters and the bugs carried disease. He couldn't help but feel as if there was far too many things out there trying to kill him.


"Though I'm not from around here, no." He added as he reached the other side of the river. "What about you? I suspect you don't live in the swamp." He grinned slightly, looking over his shoulder at her. She looked capable enough, perhaps she was a traveler just like himself? He didn't wish to call her a hermit. It felt like an odd and rude term to use for someone so pretty.


He continued to walk, making deep footsteps in the wet sand. The air was slowly becoming more wet and heavy. It was a pretty big contrast from the rest of the world. The air had a strange stench of death too, which wasn't something that always used to be there. He frowned slightly, the smell was starting to make him feel ill. Never mind the fact that he realized that most of the trees had been burnt down and there was corpses of not only raptors in the tall grass but also men.


Without him realizing they had stepped straight into an old battle field. A month or so old.

 

[Morigan]

Calia let out a small laugh when he guessed that she didn't live in the swamp. "Most assuredly not," she said emphatically. She was silent for a moment, considering. "I guess I don't really live anywhere anymore. Keep moving from place to place, really." She saw him look back at her with a slight smile, which she returned.


"They lapsed into silence as the terrain became more treacherous, the heavy sand pulling at her feet with every step. The air thickened around them, weighing her down like a wet blanket. "I had thought I was almost to the edge of this cursed place," Calia said grumpily. The stink of the air was almost making her gag.


She almost stepped on the first corpse, a shocked gasp escaping from her lips. She slowed her gait, scanning their surroundings as she realized what they had stumbled upon..."A battle..." she breathed softly. "Does this mean we're in contested territory? I can hold my own but a whole regiment might be a bit much," she said dryly.

 

[Syrrus]

The young man studied the battlefield as he continued forward, ignoring the strangers question for now. It all looked off to him. Why would anyone fight a battle in the swamp in the first place? It seemed to be the worst terrain possible for such things. Maybe he'd been too long without civilization and they had changed the way the fought? He doubted it. Besides, the place had a strange pattern to it.


It took him a while, perhaps a bit too long to realize exactly what looked off. The corpses had been there for weeks, clearly. The flesh was still there but it was.. gooie and swollen, like a corpse gets when in contact with moisture and water. The stench was also a proof of that. The place reached of something else than death though and he didn't realize until he almost fell face forward into a very large foot print.


"I don't think you need to worry yourself..." He mumbled as he stumbled forward, doing all in his power to stay on his feet. "I think everyone was killed by whatever this belonged to"

 

[Morigan]

Calia had been holding her breath as much as possible; the stench only grew worse. When Valerik nearly stumbled into what looked like a ditch she hurried up to where he stood.


She saw that it was not a ditch, but an enormous footprint. "Oh for Fate's sake...what made that? A dragon? This swampy mess is hard to read. All the water and muck tells me nothing..." she grumbled as she tried to make sense of the print they were staring at.


"Well whatever it is- it's clearly not friendly. We should move on, and quickly." She began picking her way around the large depression, careful to avoid any corpses as well. "Quietly would probably be a good idea too," she said drily, look back at Valerik.