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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 22, 2012 9:55:59 GMT -5
It wasn’t obvious which made the woman flinch more, the laugh or him hitting the bar. Kevay jumped a mile too, actually looking concerned as he glanced to Phoenix. He didn’t know much about the thief, but he got the feeling that this sort of behaviour was out of character. He was pretty sure that Phoenix wasn’t really this much of a monster. Was he?
The woman obviously thought that he was. Her hands were actually shaking as she reached into her bodice to pull out the money pouch. “The ring is inside.” She mumbled, swiftly dropping the pouch onto the bar before turning to practically run away. There was no saving face after that, but at least she was getting out of there with her life.
Kevay breathed out a sigh of relief, gently clapping Phoenix on the shoulder. “You’re a good actor, you even had me shaking in my boots. You were acting…right?” He questioned, sounding unsure. Suddenly he wasn’t all that convinced that Phoenix was really the type of person he wanted to be around. “Come on, let’s buy some celebratory drinks and then find us a tailor. I need new clothes, and you do too.” [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 22, 2012 19:45:03 GMT -5
“It had better be,” Phoenix mumbled as the whore finally took the money pouch from her bodice and dropped it onto the bar. He remained motionless as she fled, ignoring the looks they were getting from the patrons in the bar, or the way the barmaid moved swiftly away to look at anywhere but the two of them. It took a few moments before the thief began to relax, a little of the tension ebbing out of his posture. He fumbled for the money pouch, quickly opening it and rattling it around before locating Rory’s engagement ring.
He lifted it out and tentatively held it up to the light, turning it over in his hands. It looked as perfect as ever. Then, and only then, did the rest of the stress drain out of him, Phoenix slipping the trinket back into the inside pocket of his waistcoat where it belonged. He jumped a mile when Kevay clapped him on the shoulder. “Mm?” He sounded suddenly exhausted, giving Kevay a wavering little smile. “Yeah. Yeah, course I was,” he murmured, nodding to his new friend.
Sliding the money pouch across to Kevay, Phoenix couldn’t agree more with his idea. Well, the drinks part of it anyways. “Mm…? New clothes? What’s wrong with these clothes?” He asked, already ordering drinks from the very nervous barmaid. They arrived and he passed Kevay his bottle, turning to meander out of the bar. He didn’t want to stay there, not even to drink. The looks weren’t worth it.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 14:33:52 GMT -5
The change in Phoenix when he had the ring was pretty startling. It physically rippled through the thief, Kevay stepping back and glancing around as though he expected to see that red cloud of rage settling over someone else. Note to self; the thief really was serious about his lost Princess. “That is one seriously nice ring.” He commented with a light smile as the gem caught the light, suddenly able to believe everything he’d said about the Princess; no common thief would have a ring like that. “We could get a chain to put it on, if you wanted, so you’d not lose it again. An enchanted anti-theft one.” He offered, rubbing at the back of his head. “Why’d she give you an engagement ring, Phoenix?” He asked, sounding bemused. Kevay couldn’t help but poke his nose in where heartbreak was involved.
“What is right with those clothes?” He counted with a snort, accepting his bottle and his money pouch as he turned to follow him out of the bar. “Booze and new clothes and then we’ll decide where to go next. Probably for more booze.” He grinned, suddenly cheerful now that the danger had passed and there was booze in his hand. All you needed in life was a good friend and a good drink, everything else would fall into place. He was telling himself that anyway.
“I can see if I can find anything about the Princess out, if you like. Sneak into a couple of high society parties. Bed a couple of important peoples wives. Everyone gives too much away in bed, so if anyone knows that she’s here one of those women will. Could head for the capital.” He suggested after a long pause, glancing to Phoenix. “It’s a long long time since I went to the capital, I reckon I could go back there now without anyone remembering who I am." [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 16:08:04 GMT -5
Phoenix didn’t get angry when Kevay asked him about the ring he’d just slipped into his pocket. He nodded absently about getting a chain for it, but he totally blanked his question. His question and anything he said about finding out about his missing princess. Kevay was great and all but he had already confessed to having taken quite a liking to Rory without knowing what she even looked like, so Phoenix was already reluctant to talk about her. Not only that – he missed her so much that it physically hurt sometimes, like a deep ache in his chest, and so the less he thought about her, the better. Kevay could never find her, and neither could he. It just wasn’t going to happen.
He wrinkled his nose at his clothes, taking a swig of his drink as he meandered back out into the streets. “Fine, fine. New clothes and more booze. I’m not gonna complain about that.” He lifted his bottle in a toast to Kevay, and turned away to look for… wherever Kevay wanted to go to get him naked, put frankly.
*** Seagulls. The first think Phoenix Garcia noted when he woke up was the scream of seagulls. “I thought the centre was land-locked,” he grunted, his voice hoarse and his head thumping. That was nothing compared to the churn of his stomach, however. It seemed to be constantly sloshing back and forth. “Uuuuuuugh…”
It had been at least a week since Phoenix and Kevay’s meeting, the thief having drunk and whored his way all over Ecritetre in just a few days. His clothes, new as they might be, stank of booze all the same and were stained with wine and God knew what else, but when he opened his eyes, they were nowhere to be found. In fact, as far as Phoenix could make out, he was wearing… some sort of a uniform.
“The shit is this?” He grunted, jumping a mile at the bark of a voice in the distance. Phoenix sat himself up and rubbed hard at his eyes. When they finally blurred into focus, he turned a little bit green.
A ship. They were on a ship. How had they gotten on a ship? And why did Phoenix have a sword at his waist? His hand flew to the chain around his neck (they’d gotten one after all), and he released a faint sigh of relief when his fingertips grazed against Rory’s engagement ring. “Kevaaaaaaay?” He croaked. Very close by, another voice shouted out.
“A’right, new recruits! Get up ye lazy bastards! We got a lot of briefing to do before we get this war on the road!”
War? Oh God, war?
Phoenix lurched unsteadily to his feet, collapsed against the side of the ship and promptly threw up over the side.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 16:39:54 GMT -5
Kevay wouldn’t be hard to find; he was sprawled against the railings of the ship, clinging on for dear life. No matter how many times he travelled by ship he just couldn’t get the hang of it, nor could he find a way to throw his guts up over the edge of the ship and look dignified in the process. By now he imagined that he’d actually turned green and there was a sheen of sweat on his skin, hair hanging limp around his face, pushed back from his face with no thought to style. Vanity had been shoved to the bottom of his priorities by the hangover which currently threatened to kill him.
The voice jolted him from his uneasy snooze, Kevay groaning and squinting against the light, stomach churning all over again. Recruits? War? Where the in Syrunn were they and why did he have a sword? What had he gone and gotten himself into this time?
The flash of red at his side was a welcome sight, Kevay smiling weakly to Phoenix as his buddy threw up over the edge of the ship, another handful of people doing the same thing. Most of the group looked hung over as Hell, or terrified, or both. “Phoenix…” He croaked, rubbing at his forehead and shuffling to attempt to sit up, for now ignoring the man barking orders in the background. “Please tell me we didn’t go and enlist. Please.” [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 17:03:02 GMT -5
Phoenix straightened up after vomiting over the side of the ship, squinting into the watery distance and making out a distant slope of land. “Augh… oh, gods… that’s not the port. Tell me that’s not the port Kevaaaay…” He rested his head on the side of the ship and ignored the other hungover people around them, but the voice shouting commands persisted. They must be either really desperate for recruits, he thought, or used to this kind of thing. “Wait,” he grunted after a moment or so. “Kevay…” Straightening up, Phoenix’s eyes were wide.
The sea was slate grey, much like the sky, the waves choppy and freezing, and he could see a range of snow-capped mountains in the far distance. “We’re not leaving, we’re arriving… Where are we?”
“Still Ecritetre, lad. You weren’t that drunk, were ye?” An old, grizzled sailor had swaggered up beside them with a cigarette between his lips. The smell of smoke stung Phoenix’s nose, but it didn’t make him feel ill, at least.
“What?”
He looked between the two hungover men, and laughed. “You two’re in for a helluva day, lemme tell you. Trouble’s brewing on the borders ‘tween Marmosia and Ecritetre. ‘Mergency recruits have been rounded up. That’s you boys.” He stared out at the port growing steadily closer. “You’re gonna be trained and armed and sent to die.”
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 17:15:12 GMT -5
Squinting off into the distance at the scrap of land didn’t make Kevay feel any better at all. “That’s a port.” He admitted quietly, rubbing at his eyes and sliding down to sit on the rocking deck with his knees hugged to his chest. The news that they were arriving anywhere didn’t make him feel much better either. On the plus side they would be off this boat soon and maybe he would stop throwing up, but they also seemed to be heading towards some sort of fight. As a general rule Kevay headed in the opposite direction to fights.
The cupid squinted up at the veteran as he came over to talk to them, lifting a hand to shield his eyes. “We were that drunk.” He grumbled, eyes widening as what was happening was finally explained to them. The little colour left in his cheeks drained away and for a second Kevay forgot to breathe, gawping up at the man stupidly. “Trained and armed and killed? What? No. Just…no.” He shook his head, groaning as the movement made the world tilt all over the place. Was this a panic attack? It felt like a panic attack.
“I didn’t sign up for this.” He whimpered, head dropping to rest on Phoenix’s shoulder, his hand over his eyes so they wouldn’t realise he was crying. “This is a nightmare. If I shut my eyes when I open them again I’ll be in a cheap tavern with a busty woman.” [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 17:50:06 GMT -5
Phoenix looked in a similar state to Kevay when he realised what they had to look forward to, the thief going weak at the knees and barely managing to catch Kevay as his head rested on his shoulder. The lurch of the ship made him want to be sick again, but he luckily managed to contain himself, patting Kevay lightly on the back while the veteran cackled, finished his cigarette, and stumped away. “I wish,” he said weakly. “If you open your eyes again you’ll still be on my shoulder, and I look rough as a badger’s arse and I haven’t shaved in days,” he mumbled.
The commanding voice was clearer and louder than ever now, and the port was so close that Phoenix could see people beginning to walk to and fro on the docks. He glanced around to try and listen to the voice. “Is he sayin’ something about getting ready to swim? He’d better not be – WHOA HEY NO.” Phoenix struggled as a sailor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him bodily over the side of the ship with the rest of the new recruits. He struggled and flailed to try and catch hold of something.
He only managed to grab Kevay’s shirt, dragging him overboard with him.
“AUGH.” The water hit Phoenix like a wet slap in the face, and he tried not to think about all of the vomit floating around there with them. Gasping as he broke the surface, it took Phoenix a frightening few moments to remember how to swim, but soon enough he was splashing towards the shore, lest they be crushed by the ship. Well, this was… sobering.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 18:17:07 GMT -5
It went from bad to worse. Kevay heard something about swimming and then before he could even realise what that meant he’d been dragged over the edge of the ship and was falling. Water was surprisingly hard when you landed flat on your back, Kevay catching one last glance of sunlight before the water surrounded him. Panicking as he was, he couldn’t find the surface. He lost which way was up, flailing about desperately. Just when he thought he was about to die he broke the surface coughing and spluttering, hair plastered to his face, ignoring the chunks bobbing up and down on the waves around him.
He’d never realised that he could swim so well until that day. It was a lumbering doggy paddle with more splashing than swimming and he swallowed at least a gallon of water. By the time he got to the shore his muscles were burning and he’d lost a shoe. He collapsed to his knees in the shallow waters on the pebbled beach, coughing up half of the ocean.
It took him a while to gather himself together enough to crawl fully out of the water and flop onto his back, clothes heavy with water, eyes stinging from the salt. “Phoenix?” He asked as he realised that he didn’t know where the thief was, sitting up to look around desperately. “You’d better not have drowned, I can’t do this on my own…”
This was going to be Hell. [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 18:56:26 GMT -5
Phoenix didn’t remember actually reaching the shore. He just suddenly found himself on his hands and knees on the shingle beach, hair stuck to his face, salt stinging his nose and eyes. He coughed up a great deal of seawater, the thief looking like a drowned, miserable rat as he sank back on his knees. Then he heard Kevay’s voice. “Uuuugh… I’m here, I’ve not drowned,” he mumbled, stumbling to his feet, legs unsteady, limbs burning as he wobbled over to Kevay. He grabbed the cupid’s hand and dragged him to his feet. “C’mon. C’mon, a’fore they shoot us or worse…”
***
Kevay was right. This was hell. They were in hell, and they had been in hell for about three weeks now. After somehow finding their way to the port from their ocean ordeal, they were quickly directed to what Phoenix considered the most slapdash and miserable army barracks he had ever seen in his life. Then again, Phoenix didn’t exactly have much experience with army barracks. But this was a hell hole, he could tell you that for certain. Their mornings were a blur of pain from training and cold from the sea, their midday meal little more than slop, followed by more training before passing into an exhausted sleep.
This was Phoenix’s new life. The hardest thing had been getting sober. The second hardest had been keeping it in his pants. But if ever there was a sausage fest, then the army barracks in the port town of Rennes was it, and Phoenix had no choice but to be sober, miserable, cold and frustrated. At least he had company. Misery loved company.
Groaning, Phoenix staggered into the large, low ceilinged building where they were to have their meal, slumping onto one of the long benches near the fire. His fingers were numb with cold, his hair damp from the fine rain that had been falling. His cheeks were pale and gaunt, but it was obvious that under his uniform some hint of a muscle was starting to show. He accepted his salted porridge with little more than a grumble today – he was too hungry and tired to care what he was eating, so long as it got down his throat and warmed him up quick.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 19:11:24 GMT -5
Three weeks in the army had confirmed what Kevay had already strongly suspected; he wasn’t cut out for this shit. The strict schedule and the training and the lack of female contact and the everything. Just the everything. Muscles that he didn’t even know he owned constantly ached and he was weak (and a touch feverish) from the lack of female adoration. Hell, he’s sunk so low as to leech off the adoration of a couple of the men in the camp just to keep himself going; Kevay couldn’t survive if he wasn’t loved.
The days all blurred into one now, all thoughts of anything else hidden behind the misery and the constant nagging ache for a drink. His hands still shook with the withdrawal, but not as badly as they had in that first week. He could get his spoon to his mouth now without his food going everywhere. Things were improving, he supposed, but with every day that passed they got closer and closer to being sent into battle to die; a depressing thought.
Today was post day, one of the generals making the rounds with the letters while they all ate what passed as an evening meal around these parts. “Garcia, Phoenix.” The man mumbled, dropping a tattered fold of parchment onto the rough table in front of Phoenix before moving on.
“You have mail…” Kevay sounded surprised, peering down at the sorry looking parchment. It looked like it had been all the way around Syrunn, Phoenix’s name so smudged that it was barely legible. The wax seal was chipped and barely intact, the ribbon around it soiled and frayed. “Who’s sending you fancy letters? Looks like it’s come a long way…” He murmured, putting down his half eaten bowl of porridge. “Can you read? Want me to take a look? Gods knows how this even found you here…” [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 19:43:10 GMT -5
Phoenix was busy eating what he figured was his dinner when the general came around with the post. He paid no attention; nobody knew him, nobody cared, and it hardly mattered. He was not expecting his name to be called out, the spoon freezing halfway to his mouth, the thief looking up tiredly. “Mm? Me?” His weary eyes followed the paper as it fluttered down to the table, and he picked it up with numb, dirty and calloused fingers. “I have mail,” he repeated, glancing across at Kevay and looking bemused.
“I shouldn’t have mail. Nobody knows where I am. How’d they figure out I was here in any case?” He questioned, turning the battered parchment over and over in his hands, a spark of hope lighting up in his eyes, but he could hardly stand to nurse it. Could it be… no. No, it just wasn’t plausible. He handed the paper to Kevay and shrugged. “I can’t read for shit, nah,” he told him. “Can sign my name but that’s it. Dunno what it’s about, but it’s prob’ly the wrong name or somethin’. The ink’s so smudged it could be anyone’s name there…”
He went back to his porridge without glancing at Kevay again. He felt bad even looking at the cupid; he was made for this sort of life even less than Phoenix, and every passing day made him look just a little more ill. He had no idea about the ins and outs of the cupid’s power, but he knew Kevay wasn’t well, and that it was only getting worse.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 20:09:16 GMT -5
“We’ll find out if it really is for you then.” Kevay murmured as he took the letter, sliding his thumb under the wax to break the seal and unfold it properly. The parchment was obviously expensive so inside the ink was as perfect as when it had been written, flowing over the page in elegant handwriting. Kevay had to blink at it and squint for a few moments before he could read it, his eyes unaccustomed to anything beautiful after being stuck in the barracks for so long. “It’s definitely for you. Says your name again here.” He tapped the top of the letter where his name was written, scowling at the date on it. “It was written months and months ago though. What month are we in now?” He asked before shrugging. It didn’t matter what the month was; they were going to die soon. Dear Phoenix,
I doubt that this letter will ever reach you, I expect it will get thrown in the fire before it even leaves this tower, but if by any chance it does get to you I want you to know that I miss you. I’ve missed you from the moment that they captured me, but you shouldn’t come looking for me. Kevay paused after he read the first paragraph aloud, glancing up at Phoenix to see if he wanted to keep reading. He could practically feel the emotion pouring from the page and it was enough to make him want to stop now, but he figured that Phoenix had a right to at least hear what she’d written. Hell, if they died at least he’d actually heard from her one last time. I am sorry, Phoenix, for ruining your life and dragging you half the way across Syrunn and back. I’m sorry for taking you away from your home and I’m sorry for all the hardship I have caused you. Please know that it was never my intention. I never wanted to hurt you. I also wanted to say thank you, because without you I would never have known what living was. I wouldn’t change a minute of our time together, I just wish that we could have made it last longer.
I don’t know much about where I am. It’s a tower and this is Ecritetre, but there must be thousands here. I can’t see anything but trees from my window and every hint of red reminds me of you. By the time you receive this letter they will probably have moved me again. I half expect my father to enlist the services of a dragon to guard me.
I hope that you are happy. I hope that you found a way to stay in Cressa and to go back to the inn, but somehow I doubt that you have. If you are looking for me you should stop. I fear they will keep me in this tower for the rest of my life and I don’t want you wasting your life looking for me. It’s too dangerous and too farfetched. Find a home, find somewhere to be happy and live your life. You more than anyone else I know deserve to be happy.
I love you. I miss you. I’ll never forget you, but I have to let you go. I hope you understand.
Please don’t hate me.
Eternally yours,
Rory. Kevay rubbed at his eyes when he finished reading,, biting his lip as he glanced up at his friend, holding the letter out to him. The edges of the page were covered with delicate drawings of wooden roses and other little sights they had seen, the tower sketched in the bottom corner presumably hers. “She wrote you, Phoenix. Are you…are you ok?” [/size][/font][/right]
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Post by Phoenix Garcia on Dec 25, 2012 20:39:08 GMT -5
“Mmn,” Phoenix said in response to Kevay, though it was obvious that he was watching the cupid out of the corner of his eye just in case that tiny shard of hope inside him actually allowed the letter to have come from Rory. He turned his head only slightly to gaze at the beautiful handwriting, and promptly pressed his eyes closed. Of course it was. He had only ever been kidding himself that the letter wasn’t from her, hadn’t he. It also explained how it had been all over Syrunn and back. Only a princess of Avalas could afford to send a letter that far.
“Months ago…? I… I d’no. I’m sober, that’s what month it is.” He put his spoon down and pushed his bowl away to listen, ignoring the clatter of cutlery and the din of the other soldiers around them as Kevay began to recite.
The words were sad and sweet and honest, just how Rory had always spoken. He could almost hear her now, her voice softly muffled from where she was trying not to cry, her face still as beautiful in his mind’s eye as it had ever been. He missed her too; more than he could ever say out loud. Looking for her had been slowly killing him, but it seemed that now he had stopped looking he was just going to die a bit faster.
He sighed deeply when Kevay paused, his head down, and when the cupid continued it was all he could do to sit there and listen. Did she not understand? Ruin his life? How could she not see that everything they’d been through had been worth it, that he’d trade every coin in the world to see her again? He heard the words ‘tower’ and ‘Ecritetre’ and the rest of the letter blurred away into nothing. The thief found his feet before Kevay had even finished, shouldering his way through the bustle and out into the freezing air of the barracks.
The rain had gotten heavier, and a solid mist was rolling in. Quickly drenched, Phoenix found a wall around the corner, away from prying eyes. He slid down the rough stone and sat back on his heels so nobody would see him cry.
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Post by Kevay Taylor on Dec 25, 2012 20:50:36 GMT -5
Phoenix took it all a lot better than Kevay had been expecting, though the cupid looked slightly green from the emotion the letter stirred up. He folded it up carefully, like it was precious, and tucked it away inside his shirt to keep it dry before he rose to his feet and excused himself from diner too. The room was so busy that no-one would have even heard the letter or notice that they were gone; it was one of the good things about being here. As long as you weren’t breaking the rules they left you alone.
It wasn’t hard to find Phoenix, he just had to follow the trail of heartbreak in the air. Without a word he sank down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders to pull him into a one armed hug, smiling to him weakly. “Well,” He murmured, glad for the tears so that Phoenix wouldn’t know that he was crying too. “I guess that means that we’re not allowed to die. We have us a tower to find.” He nodded to him, shielding the letter from the rain as he slid it from inside his shirt and held it out to Phoenix.
“She said she loved you…” [/size][/font][/right]
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