[DH] The giants, the witch, and the warlock – 4 & 11 Dec
Dec 19, 2018 22:51:46 GMT
Nowhere, Tugark (Retired), and 7 more like this
Post by Malri 'Taffeta' Thistletop on Dec 19, 2018 22:51:46 GMT
1495 DR, 11 Nightal
‘Oh, love,’ says Nerry gently. ‘It’s pouring. Come on.’
He leans down and helps his rain-drenched wife to her feet.
‘What a thing! Sitting on the ground outside your own front door when there’s a fire in the hearth and your husband waiting. What’s the matter, my starling?’
As they enter the house, Nerry sees streaks of mud and blood on Taffeta’s face and clothes. He knows this must be fairly common – he has no illusions about the dangers she puts herself in – but it’s unusual and troubling to see. He suspects she normally cleans up elsewhere before coming home. She still hasn’t spoken since he found her in the doorway.
‘Granny’s dead,’ she mumbles eventually, after Nerry has helped her take off her boots and leathers and has wiped her face and hands.
‘What happened?’ he asks.
Taffeta looks off out of the window. ‘That Duchess person sent a letter to the inn. Said there was a place in the feywild we could go to get the power to destroy someone. Aurelia and Jenna turned up too, told us we should go. Well, Aurelia said we had to choose, but it was obvious what she wanted. So off we went. Of course. When did anyone ever say no to Aurelia?’
‘When we got there, some kind of spirit showed us two doors. We’d to go through one if we wanted Granny dead and the other if we chose Nowhere. No door for not killing anybody, mind. Got to kill someone. Apparently.’
‘I’m so sick of it, Nerry. I said to myself, “I’m not playing these games any more. I shall sit here and they can all go through their doors and have fun killing people, and I’ll have none of it.”’
She falls silent. Rain hammers on the roof. Off in another room Aila is snoring. Nerry waits.
‘They all went straight to Granny’s door, Nerry. No hesitation. Dorian, Elric, that idiot Val, Tugark, Grimes. Lady Sunday – Arvoreen protect her! – she wanted to know how to kill Pascal, so up popped another door just for her, and then Demik went that way too for some reason. Rholor obviously had to have the last word, so he wanted to wait for everyone else’s decision. But none of them had any trouble at all. No one but Daisy, and in the end she went for Granny too. All of them, off to kill some old witch who’s never harmed any of us. Not a single one thought of stopping that bastard who…’
‘Well, that was it. Before I knew it I was off through that other door and into I-don’t-know-what. Some kind of illusion world. Rholor came after me, I don’t know why. Just to be contrary, I should think. And it turned out Lady Sunday and Demik were there too. Some kind of fancy city where they were having a big street party, and the entertainment was throwing rocks at a young tiefling. It was Nowhere as a child. I don’t know if it was really his past or just a story to make me feel sorry for him but I didn’t care and I don’t care now. Lady Sunday did, though: tried to rescue him, got the whole mob turning on us but we got out somehow.’
‘Then everyone was back where we started, in front of the doors, and the spirit told us to have another go. Well I didn’t want any more of my time wasted by someone trying to make me feel bad for Nowhere so I went the other way and got shown another pile of nonsense about what the town would be like now if Granny hadn’t existed. Would’ve been taken over by shadowfell monsters or some such. We had to fight some of them to get out. Don’t ask me what the point of it all was.’
‘Anyway we all passed the test, apparently. We’d shown we had the determination to kill our chosen target, or something like that. If that’s what it was testing then it wasn’t very good, because I still had no plans to kill anybody if I could help it.’
‘That’s when the spirit showed us the real world: a big battle in the feywild, all of Nowhere’s giants and trolls fighting against Granny’s witches and other creatures. Seemed like Granny’s side was losing, but Granny herself was up in the air throwing spells at Nowhere and giving better than she was getting from the looks of it.’
‘And there was the weapon too. It was a sort of big stone thing with handles. The spirit said at least three of us had to work it. And I certainly wasn’t going to let Val or Rholor or any of that lot decide who should live and who shouldn’t, so I grabbed the thing and kept it away from the rest. I said we should just let the battle take its course and then see who’s left.’
‘They all argued, of course. Except Lady Sunday, who saw some fun to be had and dived into the battle just like her old self. The rest of them… “We can’t just let them fight, Granny will kill Nowhere!” As if it was so obvious that the fucker deserved to live. As if he hadn’t brought this on himself, and tried to drag the rest of us into it too. As if…’
Suddenly there are tears rolling down her face and her breath is coming in big gasps. ‘I hate this! I hate it! They don’t care!’ Nerry puts an arm round her heaving shoulders and squeezes tight. ‘They don’t care about anybody! What he did to us, and… and poor Sunday, and Daisy... It doesn’t mean anything to them! Grimes looked me in the eye and said… said Nowhere hasn’t harmed anyone!’ Her clenched fists are shaking. ‘Big, stupid men… fighting and talking and fighting and talking… what’s best for Daring, what’s best for the future, what’s right and wrong… They don’t fucking care about real people! They’re probably all off somewhere now having a debate… or sitting by Nowhere’s bedside… Did they come and visit us after the circus? Did they ask if the girls were okay? Or did they just sit around talking about the big war and who was on whose side and…’
‘I’m so lonely, Nerry,’ she says quietly, slumping against him and looking down into her open palms. ‘I want to go home. I’ve two or three friends in the whole town, and the rest... How can we live with these people now? How can we keep the girls in this town when our neighbours won’t lift a finger against someone who’s kidnapped them? When they don’t even think he’s done anything wrong, when they drop everything to protect him from a fight he chose to start? I should’ve left them to get torn apart by giants and hags, but… I couldn’t do it. I had to stop the fighting. I had to use the weapon...’
She looks up into her husband’s face for the first time since returning home. It calms her a little.
‘Why did I save them? Why did I save Nowhere? After everything?’
He strokes her matted hair.
‘Because you care, my love. Even if they don’t.’
She turns away.
‘Do you really want to go back, love?’ he asks. She hears the hint of worry; shakes her head.
‘We can’t. I know. I just… I’m tired, Nerry. I’m tired of fighting everyone. Why is it so hard?’
‘I don’t know, my apple-blossom. But it’s over now. Let’s rest.’
She nods.
‘Whatever we’re here for,’ she says as Nerry gently guides her to their room, ‘I hope it happens soon.’
‘Oh, love,’ says Nerry gently. ‘It’s pouring. Come on.’
He leans down and helps his rain-drenched wife to her feet.
‘What a thing! Sitting on the ground outside your own front door when there’s a fire in the hearth and your husband waiting. What’s the matter, my starling?’
As they enter the house, Nerry sees streaks of mud and blood on Taffeta’s face and clothes. He knows this must be fairly common – he has no illusions about the dangers she puts herself in – but it’s unusual and troubling to see. He suspects she normally cleans up elsewhere before coming home. She still hasn’t spoken since he found her in the doorway.
‘Granny’s dead,’ she mumbles eventually, after Nerry has helped her take off her boots and leathers and has wiped her face and hands.
‘What happened?’ he asks.
Taffeta looks off out of the window. ‘That Duchess person sent a letter to the inn. Said there was a place in the feywild we could go to get the power to destroy someone. Aurelia and Jenna turned up too, told us we should go. Well, Aurelia said we had to choose, but it was obvious what she wanted. So off we went. Of course. When did anyone ever say no to Aurelia?’
‘When we got there, some kind of spirit showed us two doors. We’d to go through one if we wanted Granny dead and the other if we chose Nowhere. No door for not killing anybody, mind. Got to kill someone. Apparently.’
‘I’m so sick of it, Nerry. I said to myself, “I’m not playing these games any more. I shall sit here and they can all go through their doors and have fun killing people, and I’ll have none of it.”’
She falls silent. Rain hammers on the roof. Off in another room Aila is snoring. Nerry waits.
‘They all went straight to Granny’s door, Nerry. No hesitation. Dorian, Elric, that idiot Val, Tugark, Grimes. Lady Sunday – Arvoreen protect her! – she wanted to know how to kill Pascal, so up popped another door just for her, and then Demik went that way too for some reason. Rholor obviously had to have the last word, so he wanted to wait for everyone else’s decision. But none of them had any trouble at all. No one but Daisy, and in the end she went for Granny too. All of them, off to kill some old witch who’s never harmed any of us. Not a single one thought of stopping that bastard who…’
‘Well, that was it. Before I knew it I was off through that other door and into I-don’t-know-what. Some kind of illusion world. Rholor came after me, I don’t know why. Just to be contrary, I should think. And it turned out Lady Sunday and Demik were there too. Some kind of fancy city where they were having a big street party, and the entertainment was throwing rocks at a young tiefling. It was Nowhere as a child. I don’t know if it was really his past or just a story to make me feel sorry for him but I didn’t care and I don’t care now. Lady Sunday did, though: tried to rescue him, got the whole mob turning on us but we got out somehow.’
‘Then everyone was back where we started, in front of the doors, and the spirit told us to have another go. Well I didn’t want any more of my time wasted by someone trying to make me feel bad for Nowhere so I went the other way and got shown another pile of nonsense about what the town would be like now if Granny hadn’t existed. Would’ve been taken over by shadowfell monsters or some such. We had to fight some of them to get out. Don’t ask me what the point of it all was.’
‘Anyway we all passed the test, apparently. We’d shown we had the determination to kill our chosen target, or something like that. If that’s what it was testing then it wasn’t very good, because I still had no plans to kill anybody if I could help it.’
‘That’s when the spirit showed us the real world: a big battle in the feywild, all of Nowhere’s giants and trolls fighting against Granny’s witches and other creatures. Seemed like Granny’s side was losing, but Granny herself was up in the air throwing spells at Nowhere and giving better than she was getting from the looks of it.’
‘And there was the weapon too. It was a sort of big stone thing with handles. The spirit said at least three of us had to work it. And I certainly wasn’t going to let Val or Rholor or any of that lot decide who should live and who shouldn’t, so I grabbed the thing and kept it away from the rest. I said we should just let the battle take its course and then see who’s left.’
‘They all argued, of course. Except Lady Sunday, who saw some fun to be had and dived into the battle just like her old self. The rest of them… “We can’t just let them fight, Granny will kill Nowhere!” As if it was so obvious that the fucker deserved to live. As if he hadn’t brought this on himself, and tried to drag the rest of us into it too. As if…’
Suddenly there are tears rolling down her face and her breath is coming in big gasps. ‘I hate this! I hate it! They don’t care!’ Nerry puts an arm round her heaving shoulders and squeezes tight. ‘They don’t care about anybody! What he did to us, and… and poor Sunday, and Daisy... It doesn’t mean anything to them! Grimes looked me in the eye and said… said Nowhere hasn’t harmed anyone!’ Her clenched fists are shaking. ‘Big, stupid men… fighting and talking and fighting and talking… what’s best for Daring, what’s best for the future, what’s right and wrong… They don’t fucking care about real people! They’re probably all off somewhere now having a debate… or sitting by Nowhere’s bedside… Did they come and visit us after the circus? Did they ask if the girls were okay? Or did they just sit around talking about the big war and who was on whose side and…’
‘I’m so lonely, Nerry,’ she says quietly, slumping against him and looking down into her open palms. ‘I want to go home. I’ve two or three friends in the whole town, and the rest... How can we live with these people now? How can we keep the girls in this town when our neighbours won’t lift a finger against someone who’s kidnapped them? When they don’t even think he’s done anything wrong, when they drop everything to protect him from a fight he chose to start? I should’ve left them to get torn apart by giants and hags, but… I couldn’t do it. I had to stop the fighting. I had to use the weapon...’
She looks up into her husband’s face for the first time since returning home. It calms her a little.
‘Why did I save them? Why did I save Nowhere? After everything?’
He strokes her matted hair.
‘Because you care, my love. Even if they don’t.’
She turns away.
‘Do you really want to go back, love?’ he asks. She hears the hint of worry; shakes her head.
‘We can’t. I know. I just… I’m tired, Nerry. I’m tired of fighting everyone. Why is it so hard?’
‘I don’t know, my apple-blossom. But it’s over now. Let’s rest.’
She nods.
‘Whatever we’re here for,’ she says as Nerry gently guides her to their room, ‘I hope it happens soon.’
