With the help of the pale figures under the strict command
of Lina, the group trudged up the stone passageways to the surface with the
near catatonic Raneaux. The route up had been obscured by a hollowed out barrel
of ale, large enough for a person to stand in and as soon as the group could
smell hops and stale alcohol they knew exactly where they were. They
wondered how it could have been kept a secret from them and how long it would have been until they had discovered it by themselves. Xera took a quick
glance over at Mhaast who was carrying Raneaux and looked down at the floor.
This was not what he had wanted for her and looking back, it seemed Danton was
taking it far worse than him. In the process of exiting out of the barrel, the pale
figures had vanished, leaving the group in the locked cellar of the Drunken Talon.
There was no way they could easily explain their sudden arrival to Mavis, nor
their reasoning for being behind a door she had most likely locked herself. Danton
threw himself into the opportunity to pick the lock which he did without warning
and without a sound.
In the bar area and completely alone, Jarvan and Mavis were
finally free to enjoy each other's company without the fear of customer or
employer. Their passionate kiss was soon cut short by Jarvan's realisation he
had not prepared Danton's room and soon a lovers' quarrel ensued. In the brief
moment of distraction, Danton managed to slip himself over the bar and to the front door. He stumbled in with a limp being as loud as he could. Jarvan rushed to his master to tend to him, full of constant apologies, while
Mavis went to helped prepare a place for him to sit.
Danton had already worked out that Jarvan and Mavis were
romantically entwined and a burden now weighed upon him. Things were changing
far too rapidly for him to control and for the best part of it, would take him
away from Darkperch. He had never known life without Jarvan and the thoughts
running through his mind scared him a little. As he was tended to, he told them
they he needed to talk to them privately which sparked fear in Jarvan. Guilt
now riddled his concerned face. He helped his master upstairs and into his room before diving straight into
fixing up the place. All Danton could do was sit there for a moment and take stock
of what had just happened and swallowed his daily Nastrond. The effects were a
little more potent but it didn't deter him from what he had to do and summoned
Mavis in.
She seemed older today or perhaps Danton had not really
taken stock of her. She seemed slightly older than Jarvan, perhaps in her early
fifties. She had been bolstered by her lifestyle here but she was greying
slightly almost a match for Jarvan's slowly silvering hair. She looked down at
her feet as she entered. He couldn't really tell why she seemed so demure now,
she had always been so boisterous. Perhaps she knew? Mavis spoke up before
Danton could and asked him it was this to do with what they had spoken about
earlier, about Darkperch. He told her in
a yawning tone, that things would change around here but not as expected.
He explained in-part the agreement he had brokered underneath the village, about
how Lina would relinquish her control and wouldn't contact the Hawk-Eyes for a
replacement to safeguard the area. He didn't tell them about the price of what
this cost, nor the terms of the contract or Lina's sinister nature. She asked why the young Hawk-Eye wasn't returning
to Auspar and again Danton dodged the question. Jarvan looked on at his master
puzzled knowing full well he was holding back. He knew how the Hawk-Eyes worked and it was strange to him
that Lina would not return to her superiors but it was all washed away by what
Danton said next.
He said to Mavis that although she had not wished it, she
was now in control of Darkperch to run as she saw fit. She raised an eyebrow at
him, expecting him to say he was in total control of the village and not her. Out of his
breast pocket he took out two of the crystals he had scavenged from the light
field matrix that had kept him locked up. He offered one to each of them and
made sure he clasped their hand with his other as they took it from his palm. He smiled at hem
with one of the first genuine smiles he had had in a long while. This did not sit right with Jarvan, nothing
about this made sense. Danton exhaled a little and again smiled while looking at
them both. He told them they had his blessing and this was a token of his good
faith in the matter. It all finally clicked in Jarvan's head and wave of embarrassed
relief washed over him and an outburst of gratitude ensued.
With Mavis and Jarvan upstairs and confined to Danton's
room, it allowed the others to find rest upstairs. Xera told the group to sleep and recuperate and he thanked Mhaast after he
tucked Raneaux into bed. He told him to talk to Willow in the morning about
what had happened but by the look on his face he could tell Mhaast was unsure. Xera
had a throbbing headache but couldn't tear himself away from looking over at
the hopefully sleeping Raneaux. His eyes and thoughts were never taken off from
her as she had yet to speak or move since leaving Lina. His mind refused to let
him sleep but his body called for slumber and hearing the outburst from the
room next door gave him the nudge he needed to fall into bed.
Willow didn't bother to light candles as she went to sleep.
Her eyes were too tired to read and in part, she didn't want to look at
herself. She could write without light and within a few moments scrawled a sign
that read Yes, I'm fine. Keep out, which
then adorned the door to her room. In the brief glimpse she had gotten while
scampering upstairs, she saw that he skin was in part translucent but was
becoming a a darker shade of sickly green. Her dreams gave her no respite. She saw a man dressed
in ornate purple robes hang from a statue. She was haunted by the laughter of
the pale figures and of Lina's. She tossed and turned not wanting to dream and
yet not wanting to be awake.
Mhaast walked past her room and noticed the message and
shook his head. After everything that happened he needed to repair himself and
that, he knew, would have start with a stiff drink. He heard murmurs coming from Danton's room and
he caught the eye of Mavis who was peeking out to see whose door had just shut.
She gently pushed the door back and whispered some more before Mhaast startled
her by coming right up to the door and asking for a drink and for Danton. Danton motioned to her to let Mhaast in and as she opened the door she stumbled back
into the arms of Jarvan. In the light of the hallway she had not noticed his
tail and it was apparent to everyone that she had not seen a mutant before. Danton
firmly kept his jaw shut. Mhaast on the other hand had other ideas. He wanted
to speak to him alone, preferably with a drink in his hand. Mavis bit the
bullet and tried to question Mhaast on where Lina was. She said she needed to know as Silas had been
here during what was now just shy of a day of chasing after her. He looked over
at Danton and saw his shaking head and tried to avoid her questioning. He countered her inquiry by asking why he had visited so soon. It was explained that Silas
had had a falling out with Jethra over the killing of two of his followers and his recent discovery of how Jethra was using Silas' money to fund some sort of automaton search party. He had seemed overly agitated when he had
come to the inn, which was probably compounded by the fact none of them had returned in a time
scale he saw fit. This was definitely the Silas Mhaast knew and in fact this
was even more of a reason for a drink.
With Mhaast turning the conversation back onto whiskey it
sent Mavis into a panic. Neither Danton or Mhasst had any idea where Lina was
but they were both calm about the fact. It shocked her that they were so
relaxed when it came to Silas's threats and soon her fear started to spiral as she
went pale. Jarvan knew she definitley needed a drink and offered for Mhaast to accompany
them downstairs for one on the house. He agreed but tossed two shins to
Mavis as a tip. She threw them back as if they were cursed, telling him plainly
she wanted nothing to do with Silas' money. He looked at her cockeyed for a
moment as they left in front of him. When they had gone Mhaast turned to Danton and told him to
check on Willow in the morning as she wasn't looking well and her skin was turning a darker
shade of green. He replied he would look into it before shutting the door
behind Mhaast.
Willow sat bolt upright jolted awake by her visions and unable to sleep any longer. She rationalised it all by blaming the footsteps on the stairs for waking her up. She lit a candle on the
bedside table and pulled her most cherished book out from its hiding place in
her room. She looked at the one tale that was hers. The tale of the witches the
king and the shadows. She didn't want to read it again, just glancing over it
gave her comfort. She had no idea how long she had spent lost in it and was
only brought of it when a stumbling Mhaast came back upstairs to flop into an
empty room. She looked one last time at the prints n and in the
dim light and in her half sleep deprived mind, she swore she could make out the same door as
that of the one she had been locked behind in the room of broken toys. She
shook the notion from her head not wanting to worry about something so tiny and luckily the book had done its job, it had given her calmed her mind and allowed her to sleep.
