|
|
Post by mistermajere on Jan 13, 2012 23:08:12 GMT -5
"What do you want, then?" asked Novi, sounding desperate and hating himself for it.
|
|
|
|
Post by mupsmiley on Jan 13, 2012 23:14:44 GMT -5
Æschere sighed. "A solid reputation." He went back to looking at his cuticles. An odd calm possessed him, as though having reached their apex, all human emotions had suddenly been quelled. It was a measure in self-defense, but such mindless lack of empathy always left him feeling like a shell, shaken and moved by little inconsequentialities for weeks after.
Now that his charge was awake, they should push on, he decided, and, business like, bent forward. "Do you feel stable enough to walk by now? Or do you still feel faint?"
|
|
|
|
Post by mistermajere on Jan 13, 2012 23:18:35 GMT -5
"I'm fine," said Novi, without pausing to think. He was staring at the pockmocks are the man's face. "There must be something--"
He heard a crackle of dry leaves in the trees behind him, then silence. My father's men, he thought, hope jumping painfully into his throat. Had the man heard it? He stole a glance at him.
|
|
|
|
Post by mupsmiley on Jan 13, 2012 23:24:11 GMT -5
Æschere had indeed heard the crackle. He straightened, withdrawing all of himself into the murky depths of darkness surrounding the oak he rested by. His hand felt for his sabre; his heart jumped a notch. Yellow eyes darted closer to the ground than any man would tread. "Prince Novi?" he whispered, "I think you should come stand by me."
|
|
|
|
Post by mistermajere on Jan 13, 2012 23:30:37 GMT -5
Novi's belt was gone, as was the knife he customarily carried. Somehow he was on his feet and standing beside the gnarled tree where the man stood. He considered asking for a weapon.
"You could give me a weapon," he attempted.
|
|
|
|
Post by mupsmiley on Jan 13, 2012 23:35:22 GMT -5
"I don't have a weapon to give you."
|
|
|
|
Post by mistermajere on Jan 13, 2012 23:36:21 GMT -5
It took a moment for this to sink in.
"What?" whispered Novi, fiercely.
|
|
|
|
Post by mupsmiley on Jan 13, 2012 23:38:44 GMT -5
"I am sorry to offend his highness with my lack of foresight," Æschere crouched much as he had before Novi's sabre. A swirl of wind tinged the forest with the clammerings of a thousand rolling leaves.
|
|
