forum Kingdom of Spirits (4/4) (CLOSED)

Started July 01, 2019 by @ShadeStar

tune

"Oh," the guard glanced between the two, "I thought the pair of you would want to stay together. I'm sorry if I was wrong to assume so and he doesn't have to come with."

“—Oh, yes, um,” He stammered, “I’m not investigating but I have nothing else to do. I’d still like to come along.” He glanced nervously between the people of the small group he’d found himself in, “Only if that’s alright, of course.”

"It's perfectly fine," she responded and began walking towards one of the towers, "I invited you along in the first place."

“I appreciate it,” Javier smiled to her and followed along a pace behind her. He glanced over to the towers they were heading towards.

"If she does happen to be awake," the guard told all three folk following her, "Then you are free to speak to her now. If not, then you best come back in the morning when it's more likely she's awake."

“Okay,” Javier nodded, “I can wait until then…who are we meeting again? Pardon my ignorance.” He sped up a few paces to walk alongside her.

"The red headed girl who attacked Prince Brecken at the gala tonight," the guard started understanding that he was the one that was just being dragged along at the moment, "The prince was at the Everflame tree when she appeared and proceeded to attack the prince. Now the Everflame is disappeared, the prince has disappeared, and she's the only one still here. Something happened, but no one is really sure what yet."

(Sorry!)
Nathaniel trailed behind, half listening and half stuck in his own thoughts. "Everyone's just confused, aren't they?" he asked rhetorically. How in the world was he suppose to pull this trial together? The thought haunted him with every step, intruding his mind. The fae sighs, quietly, and keeps walking.

"A tad bit yes," she responded to the one she was really leading this group for. She reached the tower and opened up the door, "This is the tower. The girl is down in the dungeons below."

Javier peered into the tower, “I’m slowly getting less confused.” But all of this was so weird, strange, foreign to him that he couldn’t fully grasp everything yet. So they were going to see a girl that tried to attack the prince, he knew that now.

The guard nodded and began to walk down a set of stairs assuming the others were behind her. She had to light a torch since not much natural light was down in the dungeons.

Cicada's whole being hurt. It felt like a piece of her was missing, and then she saw a small glimpse of her hair. It was brown turning red at the tips. Oh god. It came true. It came true and now she was in the dungeons. There was no other explanation as to why it was so dark.

Nathaniel cautiously lowered himself onto a step, then, as if deeming it safe, resumed a normal pace. A chill crept up his spine and stayed at the nape of his neck, and he could feel his hackles rising. If only I had my crossbow. The small confined space closed in on him - it was too cold, regulated, dark, and quiet. He could hear his own breathing rasping in and out of his body.

Aureole shivered in the cold, wrapping her arms around herself. She wasn't a fan of the dark. "What in the hell are we supposed to ask her?" She whispered to Nathan nervously.

“I guess we should just hear her story?” He tried to hide the grimace that wound up marring his face. “Although there is a very real possibility that she deserves to be in jail.”

Aureole shrugged. "Jail's rough. Not sure anyone deserves to be in there, but by court rules, you never know, I suppose."

The guard and company reached the bottom and Cicada's head whipped up to see the entourage. The guard walked over and noticed the girl was awake, "She's awake. I can offer you ten minutes of private conversation, but no more. Any other I or another guard must be present."

(ack, sorry)
Nathaniel hummed his agreement to the regulations, taking a step to a familiar shade of red. He met her eyes. The elf opened his mouth but when nothing came out, Nathan snapped it shut and settled for silence. He looked away.

Cicada spotted the elf and leaned back in her cell. Her head was pounding, and the quick movement didn't help her at all. The guard on the other hand looked to Nathan, "Do you want your ten minutes now or later?"

"Now," he replied quickly, softly. Shooting an uncertain glance at Aureole, he took another step forward. He cleared his throat, uncomfortably breaking the pounding silence, and dared to speak. "Hey. I- um." His Adam's apple bobbed. "Eight gold?" The words came out in a tentative whisper. A small flush crept up his cheeks, warming him against the dry cold.

Aureole looked away, tapping her fingers on her thigh nervously.

The guard left the cell area and all other guards did as well. They were simply at the entrances and out of ear shot, but not completely gone.

Cicada looked at the elf and nodded before stopping abruptly from the eruption of pain that had caused in her head, "I'm still expecting that payment. What are ya doing down here anyways?"

"We came to ask you exactly that," he said, smirking slightly. "And I have the money, right here." He pulled out the small pouch, bulging with some gold and maybe a little something more.

"Great," Cicada had a small smirk. She spotted the pouch of gold and saw it was definitely more than eight gold, "Keep it on you till tomorrow. And, oh, I don't know. Being under arrest for trying to prevent the shit that went down."

Concern flashed by his features before he masked it with confidence. "Do I have to spell it out? What shit went down?"

Cicada figured none of them must have seen what happened between her and the prince. She tried to adjust herself into a better position, only to have pain flash across her face and her body sag reluctantly in the spot she was in, "The high and mighty 'Prince' of the North tried to steal the spirit's damned Everflame. I say tried, more like he did. In an attempt of goodwill I tried to stop him from doing so, only to be yanked away by a pair of guards, who I have no doubt are dead at this point. I passed out, and now I'm here. Happy now elf boy?"

He blinked twice. First, taking in all her injuries, and how frail she appeared - completely contradictory to the words she fired at him. Second, processing. "N-no," he stammered, "I don't think I'm happy. You're in a prison cell, whatever heroic act you may have done doesn't matter. Because tomorrow you'll be dragged to court, and faced with execution." An urgency entered his voice. "Do you know what you'll say to the king?"

“I’ll think of something,” Cicada responded watching as a now brown strand fell in front of her face and she blew it away. For a moment a faded, but glimmering mark could be seen on her right eye. It was hidden as quickly as it had shown. She was more upset over the loss of her red hair than she was about a looming execution, “I’m pretty used to lying on the spot. If not I’ll just tell ‘im the truth.”

She hadn't resigned. That was interesting. Her body seemed to be dimming, fading, but she was still there. That was interesting. But her calm confidence had Nathan anxious, if anything. "Sticking with the truth might be better," he suggested, grasping for anything to make the ten minutes worthwhile.