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dat-town · 3 years

Text

poison like you

Characters: princess!you & guard!Xukun feat. king!Yixing

Genre: historical, fantasy, royalty, bit of enemies to lovers, bit of childhood sweetheart to lovers, bit of i’d die for you, angst with hopeful open ending

Warnings: blood, violence, murder, poisoning and death

Summary: If you wanted to kill the last son of the Dragon Clan, first you needed to get through his right hand man. Too bad he knew you too well but it felt like you didn’t know him at all.

Words: 11.1k

Author’s note: please note that even though this historical fantasy is inspired by ancient China, it is not historically accurate because it isn’t set in any certain era or even at any existing place. the governor structure and politics might be confusing but this is basically about a lot of small kingdoms (called clans) having a never ending war for more power over the area. Chinese mythical creatures exist in this world but have gone almost extinct during the wars. to know how i imagine this world, watch Lay’s Lit mv!

for the one&only @lily-blue 💕

As the only daughter of the Jade Clan's head, you had your responsibilities. To your father, his men and all the people under them. Most importantly, you had to do everything in order to protect the Clan. When the Dragon Clan started expanding its territory, winning over more and more land, becoming more and more powerful, you knew that no army could fight theirs, so you had to go to the war with wits instead of swords.

When your father proposed the idea of a reunion between the two Clans by marrying you to the son of the Dragon, you hated it. The other Clan was everything you despised: ruthless, brutal, selfish and while you knew arranged marriage was your future, you didn't want to rule next to a tyrant. But when your father said that this would be the perfect chance for you to kill their leader and rule over the united clans yourself, it suddenly wasn't that bad of a plan. Although you never wanted a huge empire and you didn't want the responsibility over so many people, freeing them from a bloody rule sounded like the best you could do. Especially now that the man needed an heir to secure his bloodline and power.

It took ridiculously few letters between your father and Zhang Yixing before you were off, on the road with only a chest of your belongings and another one full of gold and other jewels as marriage gifts. You had your most trusted maids and soldiers with you but otherwise you were alone, alone with your plan to poison your husband-to-be. Surely, you didn't think it was going to be easy while being surrounded by his people in a palace but getting there, the dark monstrum of a building wasn't like how you imagined your future to be. Everything wore the pattern of dragon scales, the city burned in the colours of fire and ash, even the waters were dark. People wore black clothes and wore their hair down without many accessories but despite the grayness of the place, the men and women you ran into didn't seem unhappy or living in fear. They must not have known any other life, so you felt sorry for them.

You were escorted to a chamber right away and compared to the light flowery room you were used to at home, this was very different but you didn't complain. Instead you inquired about Zhang Yixing's whereabouts and when you could meet him but the maid told you that he had a meeting with his generals, so you couldn't see him until the next day when you were supposed to have lunch together. You thanked her for enlightening you and after blaming your fatigue on the long voyage, you requested to be left alone. Opening your box of accessories, you pulled out a small glass bottle with yellow liquid inside. A few drops of it was enough to put a man to sleep, a whole spoon was surely death, so your only job was to get time alone with your fiance. Until then, you needed to play your cards well.

You were quite restless and maybe a bit paranoid but you couldn’t sleep during the night fearing that someone might attack you. Even though you knew you were now under the protection of the ruler of the Clan just by being Zhang Yixing’s fiancée, it didn’t calm your traitorous heart. You have seen enemies in every corner and yet, you raised your chin high, confident and proud when you were called to that lunch with your man to be.

Followed by a bunch of maids, you walked to the room on which Yixing decided and you took your seat on the opposite end of the long table full of delicious goods. The young king was already there, his pitch black hair falling into his almond-shaped dark eyes as he looked up at you sternly, eyes narrowing as if he wanted to see through you. His skin was pale against his black clothes that were simpler than you would have thought of a tyrant. You had never met him before but you heard stories of him and you heard descriptions of his looks. However, he was younger than you had expected, only a few years older than you, but with his defined jawline and rigid expression you could imagine him being the one behind the destruction of your neighbours.

He didn’t greet you but signalled that you should start eating and tentatively you reached out for the rice, chopsticks freezing in your hold as soon as he spoke up in a raspy voice.

"It's quite unexpected, your father's wish to join hands," he said calmly and it sounded like a challenge or a test, you couldn’t tell but you didn’t like the tone he was using to talk about your father. As if he was a weakling crawling to his feet.

"Is it?” you raised an eyebrow, daring to look straight into his cold eyes, watching his every move, every twitch. “I think it's a very reasonable timing. After all, you just reached our borders," you explained because he must have known there were not many choices you could take: it was either seeking peace or a war and your nation was a peaceful one, hence you would have done anything to keep it that way.

“Is your father afraid of me?” Yixing questioned and you bet he wanted to believe that, that he could scare the Jade Clan’s head. But your father was a born strategist, he always had a plan.

“Isn’t that why you’re doing this? You want other nations to fear you?” you counterattacked with a question, knowing the lesson yourself as well: If you cannot be loved, you must be feared.

You were well aware that it was a reckless thing to challenge the king. He might have been your fiance on paper but he could have just lifted his hand and have you killed and everybody you had with you to make it look like you were attacked on the road, never reaching his palace. However, for the first time since you had seen him, the man ahead of you looked amused, the corners of his mouth curling upwards.

"You have a sharp tongue for a princess," he said and it almost sounded like a compliment. You took pride in that with a raise of your chin.

"I'm the only child of the Jade Clan's head. I have learned how to wield any kind of weapon," you answered confidently. You might not have been an undefeated warrior but you had learned how to protect yourself and you knew too well that spoken words could cause just as harm as knives sometimes. But still, it seemed to make the young king interested as he bobbed his head towards you, leaning forward with his elbows balancing on the table.

"We could test that. Are you good at archery?" he asked, probably with the intention to invite you for a game. But his smugness irked you because he made it sound like he expected you to lose no matter what. So you did the least princess-like and least wise thing you could have done in that moment: you pulled your hairpin out, letting your long locks fall onto your shoulders before swinging your arm forward and letting the pin fly forward.

In the next moment two interestings things happened. Not only Yixing’s guards weren’t by your side, forcing you down or even killing you for your brazen act but he himself didn’t move. He looked into your eyes without fear and without anger. At the same time, you saw a shadow move so fast you didn’t think it was possible for a human and his sword hit you hairpin out of its path before it could have landed in the painting behind Yixing’s throne, hitting the dragon on it in the eye. The soldier, guard or whoever he was, wore black just like his ruler but there was a textil mask in front of his face, so he must have been a special kind of warrior. Not that you cared, your attention was back on Yixing immediately.

"You tell me... do you think I would be good at it?" you asked, finding the silence a bit unsettling, it was almost like the calm before the storm. But then the king laughed and you were baffled.

“What a bride you will make,” he tilted his head and then finally, you started eating.

You were aware that you were lucky that you hadn’t been executed for that bold move you had made but it only ensured you that Zhang Yixing needed you. Or at least what you represented: the peace deal with your nation and a secured future bloodline. He could have probably forgiven as much. Or was he really that sure that either you miss the target or his guard would save him? You weren't sure but since you needed to know about his most trusted men anyways, you asked your maids about the masked figure. They didn’t know much, so you gave them the task to ask around among the Dragon Clan’s servants. You needed to know who your enemies were and where they laid. You also needed to know the palace as best as you could in case you needed an escape route or a secret passage to get to Yixing faster than anyone.

Hence, your night escapades started: once night have fallen, you pulled out a dark, comfortable clothing usually men wore and tied your hair high to not get into your way as you climb out of your window, up to the roof from where you could see the U-shaped building complex, knowing exactly where you should go: towards the king’s quarters. Running from rooftop to rooftop reminded you of your childhood when you practiced hide and seek in the palace back home. Your father had taught you how important it was to remain invisible and his advice still stayed with you as you made sure to dissolve into the shadows as you jumped to the gardens: step lightly, breath lightly like air in the morning but listen well and open your eyes because the smallest sounds, the smallest movements can be your enemy’s.

There were two guards in front of what you thought was Yixing’s suite but you didn’t care about that. You were more interested in the room where he planned his strategies to see if he really wanted to march through your home and bring war there just to conquer your other neighbours too. But before you could reach for the wooden door, you heard a shush and you crouched down just in time for the dagger to land in the wood instead of you. You bolted immediately, making a run for it, stepping up on a barrel you jumped onto the roof, so you could find a hiding place. You were prepared for such a thing. If things went South, you just needed to sneak back to your room, under the blanket and act alarmed when they banged on your door. You might have been from another Clan but nobody would have disrespected a princess by checking what she wore while sleeping and none of your maids would have said anything against you.

But you didn’t reach your quarters. No matter how lightly and in the shadows you tried to step, the one who followed you must have been really good because from one moment to another you felt yourself being hauled down from the roof, onto the ground. You and the man (based on his build) fell down together and lucky for you, it was him whose back hit the grass first with you on top of him. It gave you a bit of advantage to get to your feet immediately but you didn’t get far away. Dodging the man’s attacks, you had to admit that his training was very good, no fighter made it so hard for you to get even one hit and you grunted in annoyance when your back hit the wall of the stable. It was a full moon, so it was dark, only some tinkling light illuminating the palace for which you were grateful but it also gave you disadvantage because unlike your attacker you didn’t know this place. You felt a sudden pressure on your chest as a strong arm was pressed against it, a blade close to your neck but you only saw a silhouette.

“Speak, are you just a thief or a spy?” he asked, his voice sounding younger, softer than you expected but there was something dangerous to it. You didn’t wait enough to find out what it was. You tightened your grip around the ceramic cup you had picked up earlier and smashed it against his head. You had indeed learned how to use everything as a weapon.

For a moment, it looked as if the guard’s eyes flashed gold in the moonlight but you were too busy running away, into the stable, scaring the horses and hiding behind a straw pile, controlling your breathing until the man who had come after you gave up and left.

You hissed when you touched the wound on your fair skinned neck. It wasn’t deep and didn’t hurt a lot but it was obviously a blade wound, one that a princess shouldn’t have. So to hide it, you brushed your head over your shoulders before you left for your archery practice with Zhang Yixing who wished to see your skills for real. He greeted you with an expectant smile to which you bobbed your head politely.

You didn’t talk much while taking turns, shooting arrows but you carefully and discreetly eyed his guards when it was the king’s turn, wondering if one of them was the one from the day before. Not that you could have told with their masks on.

After practice (you lost but only because you didn’t try too hard), you went to eat fruits in the gardens and you learned that Yixing was about to leave to check on his Eastern borders. He would be away for at least a week but promised to get the wedding preparations started with his servants. You knew that was why you came but still, it made you nervous as it meant you had less time.

“Princess!” A sudden, unexpected voice called after you when you were ready to leave with your maids. Nobody other than Yixing had initiated a conversation with you since you arrived, everyone waited for you to step first. So you were curious what this man, one of the king’s closest guards, could have wanted from you. Turning around, you saw him holding out your hairpin, the one you had thrown towards Yixing the first time you had seen him, the one someone dodged, could it be…

You looked up at the young man, his hair, somewhat ruffled in his forehead, mask covering his face under his eyes. He didn’t look at you, he casted his eyes down like a good servant would.

“Thank you,” you spoke up, a bit uncertain and there was a flicker in the guard’s eyes the moment he glanced up at you after his gaze lingered on your neck: something familiar yet scary but you blinked and it was over. You took the hairpin and left, your dress sweeping the floor behind you. That guard made you feel uneasy for some reason.

The next day Yixing indeed left and when you didn’t bump into the man from the other night for the next three days you were starting to think that he went with the ruler as well. It was only after you managed to sneak into the king’s room and out when you had to realize just how wrong you had been. You knew something was off the moment you stepped into your quarters. Your guards weren’t outside of your doors and the candle you left there lit up burnt out. It was already cold to touch when you lit it again which meant it must have blown out when your intruder opened the door earlier. You pulled out your sword and pointed it ahead of you, alarmed. Your shadow danced on the walls as the candle light flickered.

“It’s been a while… Princess,” the intruder spoke up much too calmly for someone who broke into a royal’s room. You could have gotten him killed for that but you froze. Not only because he must have known about your night adventures but because the playful tint of his voice was somewhat familiar.

The shadow stepped out from the corner, hands held up, defensive, revealing the guard from earlier. You furrowed your brows, not lowering the sword, not until the other pulled down his mask and the man you faced made you gasp.

“Xukun...” you whispered, almost whimpered, and you felt your knees weaken. But he– you thought he was dead.

“I think we have a lot to talk about,” he suggested with a hint of a smile and you couldn’t agree more.

You could still barely believe that it was Cai Xukun in front of you, alive and grown up unlike the boy you had last seen him as. The boy you practiced fighting with, the son of your father’s general, your childish first love. He had never known, of course, you never had a future to begin with but still. You remembered being sixteen and so in love, secretly gushing everytime he had brought you wild roses saying they reminded him of you. But then at eighteen, he had gone off to a battle and never came back. You remembered the crinkle around his eyes as he joked, telling you not to worry, he wasn’t that easy to kill. Apparently, he was right but you didn’t understand what he was doing in the Royal Palace of the Dragon Clan as one of the high rank guards when he was supposed to be back at your home. If his father still lived, what would he have said about his son becoming a traitor?

“I knew it was you,” he spoke up, eyes a mixed colour, mouth in a thin line. You looked at him questioningly. Then he pointed at your neck without a word and you reached for the now scar on your throat. “Obviously, I didn’t know then. Sorry.”

“Why didn’t you report me then?” you asked directly, looking straight into his eyes and you let your gaze linger on the slope of his nose, the corners of his mouth, the sharp line of his jaw. He had grown up, he was more handsome than ever. “Or why didn’t you kill me during the past two days when you were following me?”

“So you knew,” Xukun nodded at you, impressed but you just raised an eyebrow. You had a guess. Everything was too easy, too quiet. When you didn’t answer, the once boy now man standing in front of you sighed as if he carried the weight of the world with him. “You should know I would never hurt you.”

You scoffed at him. You would have been naive to believe him and you weren’t a child anymore. Hell, you came here to kill the king.

“How could I be sure? It’s been years, Xukun, and you were nowhere! You gave no signs that you were alive and here you are, in an enemy clan serving their ruthless ruler?!” you spat at him and you knew that your words were harsh, that your tone was cold but honestly, you knew a barely 18 years old boy and not the young man who was in front of you. You were conflicted to say the least.

“Zhang Yixing isn’t ruthless,” Xukun corrected you. Of all things you said, he found this the most obnoxious thing you had told him out of all, he decided to correct that. You wondered why. Why was he loyal to him? Why when you had only known him to be a murderer and someone who dared you to show him her best shot?

“Isn’t he? Then how does he keep destroying these nations around us? He burnt the Moon Clan to the ground for the deities’ sake!” your voice rose by the end and you had to remind yourself to stay quiet. It would have been a scandal if someone knew you had a man in your room while your fiance was away. Your whole plan would have gone down the gutter if your reputation was ruined just like that. But you heard all the stories: the massacre in the West, the burnt towns in the South, the sunk ships at the sea. They were his doing or so people said.

“That… that wasn’t him,” Xukun objected, so sure of himself that it almost made you feel sick. “And it’s a war either way. There are no saints here. Your father isn’t one either.”

You knew how wars were fought, you knew that everybody including you was a sinner, you had both grown up in a world where you knew nothing but neverending fights, losing loved ones and never knowing safety. Yet, when the boy who your father thought of fondly dared to call him out, anger flared in you.

“My father sent his only daughter to marry a tyrant to save his people from suffering, so don’t talk about him like you knew him!”

Maybe it wasn’t what you said but how you said it, the sword you still hadn’t let go of trembling in your hand but Xukun paused, licked his lip in consideration and his voice was softer when he continued:

“I can prove that Zhang Yixing isn’t as ruthless as you think he is,” he claimed but you didn’t really care about that. You wanted to know why he was there, in the Dragon Clan instead at what you had known as a home.

“Does it have something to do with why you never came back? Like you promised,” you reminded him, sounding bitter at the memory. Gosh, you had been such a child. But who could have blamed you? He smiled and it tipped your whole world back then. But he just visibly gulped now, so you must have been right.

“I owe him my life,” he said curtly and you sucked in a breath, wondering whether he meant it figuratively or literally. You didn’t have to ask, Xukun kept talking as if now that he started, a river flood. “When the Phoenix Clan attacked us 5 years ago, I was captured. They must have known that my father was a general and they wanted to get to him. When they took me in front of their leader, Yixing was also there, barely a boy not much older than me, caught while sneaking into the tent while stealing maps on a mission for his father. They confused him for someone from the Jade Clan and thought he came for me. They let him go to pass a message to my father and then they left me in the desert far enough from the battlefield with an open wound. I was so sure I would die.”

You had imagined before how it happened. How he died, or so you had thought. You’d had nightmares about it. Seeing his beautiful eyes wide open in shock and pain. You’d imagined it on the battlefield but his body was never found. The nearby river had been red though, so you thought maybe… But it was all wrong. He was never really there.

Xukun unconsciously touched his abdomen with a grimace on his face and you wondered whether he felt the phantom pain of the stab but he kept talking without addressing that.

“The next thing I remember is waking up to being carried on horseback and Yixing yelling for a medic. I wouldn’t have thought he would come back for me, we didn’t even know each other after all,” he stopped short at that as if he was still dumbfounded that the heir of the Dragon Clan saved him then. Honestly, in his place you had been too. Maybe Yixing hadn’t had his reputation back then but you were still enemies. “When the royal medic told him I’m a lost case, he took me to a shaman and they made me drink something that cured my wound by the next day.”

“Dragon blood,” you whispered in shock when Xukun gave you a meaningful look.

There was no other way but the magical powers of dragons. Although there were more rumours than credible sources on that, nobody denied that any essence of the heavenly, snake-like creature could save lives. But there were too few of them, maybe exactly because humans dared to hunt them down for either their scales, antlers or their blood, you wouldn’t have thought it was still possible. Yixing must have paid a fortune to save someone whom he barely knew.

“See why I can’t go back home?” Xukun asked and mouth open in agapé, you casted your eyes down.

Such medication… such witchcraft was illegal in Jade nation. He would have been branded as a monster and exiled even if he went back. Dragons and creatures like that were considered sacred in your home.

“Where did they even get dragon blood from? Nobody has seen a dragon in years,” you took a shallow breath, trying to work through your messy thoughts.

“What do you think caused the fire at Moon nation?” Xukun asked knowingly and with hope in his eyes resembled the boy you had once known. He hoped you would believe him and you did but it wasn’t easy to digest all this new information.

The two of you just looked at each other in silence, a heavy one, before the sounds of the midnight patrol startled you. Hushed, you blew out the candle light, leaving you in the dark, speaking in hushed voices.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do but… please, don’t go against Yixing. I might not be able to save you then,” Xukun spoke up, his deep voice echoing in the room, you clenched your hands in fists. As if he was there to save you in the last years when you would have needed him.

“I don’t need you to save me,” you told him, hurt clear in your voice but he didn’t say anything. He left without saying a word, wind whizzing into your room as he became one with the shadows outside. His last words left you wondering. Would he have died for Yixing, even in his place even if the weapon was in your hands?

You told yourself it wasn’t because of Xukun but you didn’t sneak into the king’s quarters in the next few days. Instead you wrote a letter to your father telling him about recent events and what you have found out about the Dragon Clan’s plans based on what you had found in the strategy meeting room. You entrusted one of your best guards with the letter and sent him home.

Days had passed uneventfully then but only until Zhang Yixing and his men came back with news that knocked air out of your lungs: the Eagle Clan attacked the weakened eastern wing of your nation. You knew they had become daring lately no matter how your father wished to keep it a secret from you but it was still all too sudden. Your army wasn’t ready to not only stand guard in case you got attacked from the South but now from the sunrise side as well.

“You cannot tell me to just wait it out!” you rose from your chair at lunch when Yixing told you the news. You felt offended at how calm he was. It must have been just another attack for him, but for you, it was your home.

“What else could a princess do?” he raised an eyebrow at you challengingly and you would have liked to sneer at him.

“I’m not the type of princess you think I am,” you claimed, hating that he probably thought you were used to letting other people fight your battles for you. Just because your father didn’t let you go into the war because you were the sole heir of the clan, it didn’t mean you couldn’t have. But now, as Yixing’s fiancée you didn’t even have much choice. You knew you shouldn’t go against his words or he might dance back on his agreement with your father. But you panicked, so you did the only thing you could possibly do in such a situation. “What do you want? Do you want to marry immediately, so you would help? Or would you let them destroy my home even then?”

You were desperate, so you would have agreed to anything only if he sent a handful of soldiers to help your people. Hell, if you had become the queen you could have commanded them yourself. But the king seemed to have different ideas.

“I will help. On one condition,” he said slowly, tasting every word and you were holding your breath, waiting for him to reveal what he wished from you. “Show me what type of princess you are then. Let’s not lie to each other about these things, Princess.”

Well, you certainly did not expect that.

“What do you mean?” you stuttered and your heart skipped a beat when the man slid an overly familiar envelope onto the table. You were smart enough to not be obvious about what you wanted to discuss with your father but there were still hints in your letter about things you shouldn’t have known if you were just picking flowers and practicing embroidery like an ordinary princess would have.

“You don’t want to marry me,” the man said and even though it was an accusation, he didn’t make it sound like one. And yet…

“You don’t want to marry me either but it hardly matters what we desire. We come from the bloodline of royals, we have our responsibilities to our people. And my people need me,” you slammed your hand on the table, spilled rice wine pouring like melted snow. You caught one of the masked guards - probably Xukun - turning his head towards you at that.

“You don’t want to be a princess,” Yixing continued and it baffled you. As if you had a choice! “You have the heart of a warrior.”

Well, you couldn’t argue that, so you just gulped, looking over the table, at the man who was a mystery to you. What did he want you to say? You couldn’t possibly admit that you planned to kill him.

“Come with me,” the king said as if it was his ultimatum and there was something knowing in his dark eyes when he explained: “Come with me to the front. Fight with me and then I’ll help the Jade Clan.”

His offer was an interesting one, you didn’t quite get his reason but you nodded anyway. You were ready to fight alongside your people but you didn’t even have to look at Xukun to know he was frowning.

You left the next day, at dawn. You took all your guards with you and Yixing added his own as you departed towards the North… your home. You wore your comfortable man clothes, hair swirling in the air around you as you galloped on your horse next to the others. It took about two days to reach the endangered border, so on the night when you had to set up a tent you could be finally alone a bit. Since you were the only woman you got a separate place and nobody should have bothered you but the tent wasn’t empty when you got in there. Gosh, were your guards so imcompetent or how?

“Reckless of you to sneak into my tent. What would your king say?” you asked, words a bit biting. You didn’t have a chance to talk with Xukun ever since that night in your room and you knew, it could have been indecent to exchange words in front of others even if you explained that you knew each other from before.

“I came exactly because of that,” the once boy explained, sitting near your small table as if you had invited him over for tea. Only because you had known him before you noticed his fidgety fingers as a sign of nervousness. “Did you write about me in the letter he got his hands on?”

Oh. So that was what he was worried about. Disappointment made you taste bile in your mouth. You hated this feeling.

“I’m not stupid,” you told him curtly and turned your back on him to indeed pour some boiled water over tea leaves to soothe your nerves. Honestly, you thought about telling your father about Xukun but then you realized you didn’t know what to write. You weren’t sure what you should have. It wasn’t your place to decide and maybe it was for the better if your father still thought that he was dead.

“He… he has a man watching you. He told me he can’t trust me with that,” Xukun who once had jumped to hover above you when a wooden house fell upon the two of you during a heavy storm sounded pained admitting that. You gulped hearing his words and the worry lacing through them. You didn’t want to think of him caring. He disappeared from your life years ago, he didn’t get to worry about you now.

“Why are you telling me this?” you asked, slowly, tentative as you sat by the table across him, putting cups of tea between you. Xukun waited until you looked up, into his deep brown eyes that had the most beautiful golden specks in them you had ever seen. Maybe it was just the lights’ doing but he still took your breath away, unfairly so.

“You need to be careful. He knows you’re up to something,” he pressed, desperate and you forced a smile, a charming, confident one. Oh, Zhang Yixing had no idea what was coming for him if he betrayed you.

“If he helped my people, our people, I wouldn’t have a reason to plot against him, would I?” you voiced out your thoughts, the decision you made on your own. If the king proved to be not as ruthless, just as your old friend claimed, maybe he deserved another chance. So you meant it but Xukun didn’t look convinced.

“Princess, I have something to discuss,” the cold, authoritative voice of the Dragon Clan’s head could be heard from outside and the pace of your heartbeats picked up, whipping your head towards the entrance of your tent then back to Xukun… or where he had been just before. Now, nothing but a smell of smoke lingered after him. You had no idea how he did that.

As it turned out Yixing wanted to discuss the reports he had gotten from the battle and if he had noticed the two cups of steamy tea, he didn’t make a comment on it. The situation was quite bad, the enemy had already gotten over the walls you had pulled up all those years ago. He had already had a man of his own let the Jade Clan general there know that Dragon soldiers were coming to rescue and not to attack, so if things worked out, you could crowd out the attackers from two sides. If you were lucky enough you could bait them towards the river where they were more vulnerable. It didn’t sound like a bad plan at all and hearing Yixing’s strategies, you understood why he had won so many battles but what surprised you was that he didn’t intend to drown everyone in the river or kill them on the spot, he sounded like he hoped they would give up and retreat. You wouldn’t have thought that of the ruthless Zhang Yixing.

Knowing how wars worked was different than being there, in the middle of a battle, sweaty, limbs tired, blood dripping from the end of your sword and a painful bruise blossoming on your left shoulder. You saw red and adrenaline carried you as you shouted and attacked the next man with mace in his hand coming at you.

“Princess!” Someone screamed and you dodged the sword aiming at you just in time but its owner stepped closer, pushing you backwards on the slippery ground. You weren’t strong enough to push him back.

“Princess, huh? How interesting,” the man, covered in dirt and blood not his own, grinned at you, a hand clasping his hand around your throat, squeezing hard. You gasped, clawing at his arm with your free hand because he pushed the one that held the sword close to your chest with his. For the first time in your life, you felt powerless even with a weapon in your hand. You tried to kick and get away from the soldier but you couldn’t and felt disgusted by the names this disgusting leech called you.

You didn’t know how long you had fought back but the noises of the battle started to fade out when suddenly the man was yanked away from you but you still felt his blood splatter across your cheek as a sword pierced through his chest. Panting, gasping for air, you stared at Xukun behind the fallen soldier and he stared back at you, eyes glowing dark and golden. You smelled something burning...

You heard the screams before you had seen the source of sudden panic and shock.

You looked up to where everybody was pointing while running and you had seen a huge dragon appearing above the walls of Jade. Its fur and scales were dark like the night sky except a few gilded ones that looked like burning fire from afar while his antlers were long and ivory. It was terrifying yet beautiful. Its honey-coloured eyes gazed down upon you mere humans and it seemed to have a concrete target in its mind as it flew above you rippling the water and air behind.

Xukun grabbed your arm, trying to pull you away but his touch felt burning too and you couldn’t take your eyes off the dragon that halted in the air, levitating just above the ground, its huge head merely an arm away from Zhang Yixing who stood there alone, unmoving. It reminded you of the day when you threw your hairpin at him, how calm he was and you still couldn’t believe what you saw when the Dragon Clan’s leader lifted a hand and put it on its head as if he was trying to discipline a dog.

Thunder roared above and Xukun managed to pull you away now that everyone had scattered all over hell's half-acre. He took you farther, inside the wall of your nation and you only noticed that he must have been hurt when he stumbled and you had to catch him before he fell.

“Kun!” you shrieked, scared, the old nickname slipping naturally as you put his arm around your shoulder and pulled him inside of a half-destroyed house nearby. Your hands trembled as you let him sit down and then looked around to look for a lantern to light it.

In the dim lit room you kneeled next to the guard, his clothing soaked with his blood and you could see sweat forming on his forehead. How did it happen, you questioned, but it wasn’t the important thing. With a shaky breath, you reached out to peel off the bloody material from his chest to see the sword cut across one shoulder. You hissed seeing the fresh wound and all that blood. You cursed in frustration.

“Shh… it’s okay,” the boy whispered with droopy eyes, taking your hand, weakly pushing it away from the cut.

“It’s not okay,” you argued and you could feel tears in the corner of your eyes. Did he get hurt while trying to get to you? Did he forget to pay attention to himself because he saw you? You felt guilty and you hated that, you didn’t want to be the reason why he was hurt.

“There’s something you should know…” Kun coughed and grunted at the pain flashing through him. He had his eyes shut, teeth clenched and it hurt to look at him. “I– I heal faster than normal… The dragon blood that saved me…”

“I know,” you cut him off, not wanting him to exhaust himself with speaking. You could see him struggle, his eyes bright gold when he opened them briefly. His blood was working its magic.

To be honest, you didn’t know, you just had a guess up until now. His golden flashing eyes, the warmth radiating off him, how fast and soundless he could move or disappear leaving only smoke behind… It was because of the dragon inside of him.

There were legends saying that if a person spared a dragon, it would be bound to him for life and the blood of an alive dragon in a human would create a connection between the two. A connection that could call the other half if one felt threatened. Although it was just a theory, with the intensity of Kun’s eyes on you, the beautiful burning fire in his pupils made you believe you were right, that the dragon appeared because he feared for you.

There was a short cut growl leaving the boy’s mouth and you grabbed his hand, letting him squeeze yours while you could see his skin basically knitting itself back together, the wound closing in as if it had never been there. It might have been only a few minutes but it felt too long with how much it seemed to hurt the boy you had just saved your life. When it was over and he opened his eyes, they were plain brown again – your favourite though – and he looked tired.

Oh, thank the deities, you let out a relieved choked sound and you didn’t even notice you had been crying until Xukun didn’t wipe your tears off your cheek. He looked at you as if he had seen you for the first time, properly at least and you felt your lips tremble. Heavens, you had mourned him once and now you almost lost him again. Suddenly, a rush of emotions rippled through your body, your fingers tentatively touching the freshly healed skin.

“You’re so warm,” you whispered in awe since his skin was hotter than expected and you knew it wasn’t fever caused by the wound.

“Princess...” he muttered oh so gently and his hand, wet with your tears, slipping from your cheek to your neck, caressed your skin just like his voice caressed your soul.

“No,” you stopped him firmly and when confusion flashed in his orbs you told him to call you by your own name. It was a command, a request, a plea. It was everything and a sweet little nothing at the same time.

Kun’s eyes widened at the permission but pushed himself away from the wall to lean closer and he sighed your name into the seam of your mouth. You closed your eyes feeling his hot breath tingling on your lips and when he kissed you, you melted against him like wax melted near fire.

Once the storm passed, you could still feel Kun’s touch on you. It was like a vivid memory and it tasted sweet on your tongue even if you knew you were being naive.

You didn’t talk about it. About what it meant because you both knew you couldn’t. But you were stupid enough to forget about your other problems when you had seen the retreating army. Your people could be a bit more safe at least for a little while.

“Cai Xukun!” Another guard called out when he caught sight of his comrade next to you. He looked panicked and it scared you. What now? The man walking up to your duo looked at you warily before answering the question about his worried expression. “The king is injured.”

Oh. Interesting how it was what you had wanted since you had left home but now that Zhang Yixing was bedridden, you found yourself worrying and by the looks of it Kun too. The two of you were escorted to the king who lay on a makeshift bed, chest wrapped with a cloth that he had already bled through.

“What happened?” you questioned, looking from one soldier to another. This didn’t look like something caused by the dragon’s claws or teeth, it was definitely a human-caused injury and your guess was confirmed when one of the men told you that while he was trying to calm the dragon, someone from afar shot an arrow through him. It made you anxious because what if they captured the dragon? What would that have meant to your people, to Kun?

“And the dragon?”

“It chased them away and is probably in the mountains,” the man said and that made you a bit relieved even though you weren’t sure you were allowed to feel that while your fiance was bleeding out only a few steps from you. You nodded in acknowledgement and made a hand movement to excuse the soldiers. Soon, you were left with only Xukun in the room.

“Why isn’t he healing? Doesn’t he...” you looked at the boy, not understanding why the injury took its toll on the king when Xukun healed within an hour. Was it some kind of special arrow damped in poisonous liquid? Was it...

“No,” The guard cut your words off but you could already tell by the look on his face that it wasn’t how you thought. “He saved the dragon and it now serves him but he never got its blood and I… I think the dragon is hurt, too.”

“What?” you were dumbfounded how he could tell something like that when you had left the field together, so he couldn’t have known about this. Not by seeing it happen. But as Xukun clenched his hand in front of his chest as if he was hurting, you started to understand. They were indeed connected after all.

“I can feel it. I can’t explain but its energy...”

A hurt dragon in the mountains. A hurt king in the desert. Gosh, things really weren’t on the path you hoped them to be. You suddenly weren't sure what worried you more.

“Do you think the dragon is in danger?” you turned to Kun, fingers fidgeting with the handle of your sword by your side. If those from before knew that they managed to wound the creature, were they looking for it? Anyone who got control over a dragon could have immense power, you didn’t even want to think about it. Especially the dragon that had this special connection with the boy beside you. “Go then. Help the dragon!”

He seemed surprised and conflicted at your nudging. He didn’t move, eyes flickering to the bed behind you.

“But Yixing...” His protest fell short when you quickly explained:

“I will stay with him and wait for the medic,” you promised but weren’t sure Xukun trusted you with something like this until he reached out to take your hands in his. His palm was warm like every other part of him too, his fingers felt nice against your dirtied, dry skin. He squeezed your hand gently in agreement.

“Call for a shaman, too,” he added and you nodded with a lump in your throat. You needed to get prepared for any kind of situation.

You could have been called a loyal fiancée based on how you spent day and night next to Yixing, watching over his recovery. However, he didn’t get much better over the course of days and you didn’t hear about Xukun either. The only reassuring thing was that you weren’t attacked there, at the border of three Clans. You couldn’t leave either way because the king wasn’t well enough for such a long voyage and you wanted to be as close as the mountains anyway.

The medic said the arrow hit Yixing so close to his heart that it was a miracle that he was still breathing and it scared you more than you had expected. You let him change the bandage and stayed by the unconscious man, putting fresh wet cloth over his feverish forehead.

That night, marking the third without Xukun, the king stirred awake.

You looked up from your place beside his bed, startled. It was the first time he seemed more conscious than just to drink a bit of water or ginger soup because his eyes looked alert. For the first time since you had met him, he seemed scared.

“The dragon...” he croaked out with a hoarse voice due to not speaking for days.

“Xukun is looking after it,” you told him reassuringly and held a metal cup to the king’s chin, urging him to drink a bit. He gulped down the fresh water as if it was healing potion and once he finished with the entire cup, he fell back onto the sheets with a painful sigh. Closing his eyes, he traced his ribs until he reached the bloody bandage over his wound and hissed. He must have suffered more than he showed.

“I would have never thought I would have my fiancée look after me after a battle,” the man whispered, deep voice weak and uncertain, a little playful though. Although his words were conveying the truth, it made you feel like someone who committed adultery. You knew you didn’t swear either loyalty nor love to each other with the king but after learning how he had saved your first love from certain death, you didn’t want to do something like this to him. You needed to come clean even if the timing was quite off.

“With all due respect, Zhang Yixing, I’m afraid I can't marry you,” you said quietly, expecting a frown or a scolding but none of it came. Maybe because he was injured but he didn’t react at all and for a moment you thought he had fallen back asleep but then he slowly opened his eyes again and turned his head to be able to look you in the eye.

“I had a feeling,” he nodded calmly. He didn’t seem angry nor disappointed. He had already said your father’s proposal was an odd one, one with interesting timing. There was nothing interesting about it, it was just a strategy, a plan you didn’t want to follow anymore. But before you could have spoken up, to apologize, to ask whether it meant your alliance was off, Yixing continued: “Xukun treasures you too much. He was the one who urged me to trust your father.”

“He… Did he tell you about me before we met?” Words stumbled out of your mouth before you could have stopped them. You were more than dumbfounded to know that. Had Xukun known about your father’s wish to marry you to Zhang Yixing even before he agreed? Was it him because of whom the king agreed at all? And here you thought that he had been just another guard, loyal to his king until death.

“He talked about you all the time,” the man reminisced with a faint smile on his lips as he stared at the ceiling. “He always says how I saved his life back then but with him here, not being able to return home, I feel like I have taken his life instead. Taking you from him would have been even worse.”

You cast your eyes down bashfully as you listen to him talk. Yixing’s side of the story was an interesting one as well. Learning how he didn’t save Xukun out of the kindness of his heart but because he wanted intelligence was something you could understand, something you could relate to as you lived in a world like that after all. You couldn’t even be angry, not when he told you how they had become friends over the years. As the king drifted back to sleep, you thought that maybe you could become friends as well, maybe you could still be allies. You didn’t necessarily have to be enemies.

But once being enemies, it was hard to forget and not everybody had the same insights as you.

You woke up to a small noise, only to open your eyes to see one of your own soldiers from Jade Clan stepping inside the tent. You had always felt safe next to your guards but this time, something was off.

“What are you doing here?” you questioned as you sprang to your feet from the seat you accidentally fell asleep in.

“Princess,” the guard bowed with respect. Though, he was clearly surprised to see you still there and you could see the hint of hesitation in his eyes before he answered. “I am here as per your father’s wish.”

You furrowed your brows. You hadn’t been notified of anything like this.

“My father’s wish?” you raised a brow, looking at the man expectantly but he didn’t reply, not with words at least. Instead he took out a small glass bottle with familiar yellow-ish liquid inside. It made the blood freeze in your veins.

“That wasn’t the plan,” you reminded the man even though you hadn’t even known your father told anybody else about it. Didn’t he trust you or…

“It wasn’t your plan but your father had doubts whether you could do it with a cold heart. That’s why he sent me,” your guard informed you dutifully and your brain kept coming up with reasons why this was a terrible idea. It would have been much easier if Zhang Yixing was indeed the tyrant you had imagined him but after learning about his personality and starting to form an amicable acquaintance with him, it just didn’t make sense.

“I’m not the queen yet,” you objected but the guard didn’t seem to care.

He explained how the public sentiment had changed in your favour just because you stayed with the injured king in the last few days and there was something in his explanation that was quite logical: if Yixing passed away now, nobody would have looked for a murderer because he was already on his deathbed. Nobody would have known he didn’t die from the arrow. Nobody needed to know. But… it wasn’t the plan. If he died then, without a queen or heir, the Dragon Clan would remain without a leader and neighbouring nations would all want their pieces of it. If they got to know about the dragon too…

“It’s a chance we can’t waste. We need to prioritize the safety of Jade Clan,” your guard reminded you and for a moment you were stuck. If it hadn’t been for Xukun, you might have done it within a heartbeat, not even considering other options because Zhang Yixing was a dangerous man but now… you were torn, unsure what to believe. Your uncertainty must have been written on your face because your guard pushed the bottle into your hands, encouraging you to make a move and you gulped, too busy with your internal turmoil to react fast enough when you got company.

Four of the masked guards of Yixing stepped into the tent, one of them immediately slicing the throat of your man which made you scream. Two guards held you back from behind, not letting you move, to get any weapon while another one walked up to you, his dark eyes trained on you, his bloody dagger aimed at your throat. He forced the little glass bottle out of your hands.

“There was always something off with you, Princess. You should have been hung the moment you dared to fling your hairpin at the king,” he said, disgusted and you couldn't quite blame him. You raised your chin though, proud because as a royal it was expected of you even when you looked into the eyes of death. You weren't afraid of dying, you had walked out to the battlefield earlier with that mindset too, it was just… you wished you could have said goodbye to Kun.

You knew that the only reason the guard didn't kill you off like he did with your man was because you were a royal. If you died by a hand of a guard of the Dragon Clan, you knew your father would have gone to war against them and you also knew he would have lost which broke your heart even more.

"So what now? Will you kill me too, in the name of justice because one of my men blabbered? You have no idea what we even talked about!" you accused the guard of making a scene over nothing because as of now prolonging the conversation was your best chance. Either Yixing could wake up and stop them, if he believed you didn't want to hurt him any more, or your other guards could show up as well.

"I have a good enough guess, Princess, but of course, you can prove your innocence by drinking this. If it isn't poison, you have nothing to lose, am I right?" the man turned the small glass bottle between his fingers. You didn't show reaction to that even though you knew you were going to die if you drank it all. But at least it was said to be a fast killer. You were contemplating whether you should have taken it and then spit it out saying it was bitter for your 'princess taste' because he wouldn't have been able to prove anything then. He could still kill you though but maybe it was worth a chance.

However, before you could have decided the tent's entrance flew open and a very dishevelled looking Xukun showed up. He looked like he was running and hadn't slept properly in days. The presence of guards, his comrades, seemed to surprise him, the dagger at your throat even more.

"What's going on here?" he asked in an authoritative voice even though you weren't sure he had a bigger rank just because he was friends with Yixing.

"The princess and her guard were caught trying to poison the king."

"That's not true!" You protested heavily looking for eye contact with Xukun, hoping he would believe you. It was all just a terrible misunderstanding. Once you might have wanted to cause harm but you had no reason anymore, not if you signed the Lotus pact with Yixing like you had agreed. When you met Kun's gaze, it was confused but not unkind.

"Then prove it, Princess," the older man said and pushed the blade closer to your neck where your earlier scar was still visible. The situation seemed to scare Xukun but you didn't want him to save you again, you only needed him to believe you. He seemed to think differently though.

"Let her go and lower your weapon, we don't have time for this," he stood in front of you pushing the man's hand away and flashing his golden eyes at the guards you kept you caged. Their hands immediately loosened their hold as Kun lifted his bag. "I have the dragon blood. Where is the shaman?"

One of the guards ran off with the bag to fetch the shaman but you could only breathe peacefully for a moment. Then the masked man with a slit across his eye crowded you and Xukun into a corner.

"My bad. Why would I have thought that you of all people can be rational? Do you think you were so discreet about disappearing, just the two of you? Are you maybe in it too? Did the two of you, Jade bastards, plan to get rid of our king to take over?" With each of his words, he poked Kun's chest with his index finger until the younger swatted his hand away. His voice didn't waver as he answered:

"If you really think that after all the fights we fought together, I feel very distraught," he said with his voice so cold like you never heard it before. Xukun's pride must have been on the line with his loyalty being questioned just because of his connection – maybe affection? – to you because the next thing you knew was him grabbing the glass bottle out of the other man's hand. "You know what? I'll prove it to you!"

“Kun, no!” You grabbed his hands in panic, closing your fingers around his, so he couldn't lift the poison to his lips. Was he crazy? Did he want to die just for you to follow?

Or oh… he believed you. He really believed you and that it wasn't poison in the first place or maybe he believed you had nothing to do with it and knew nothing of it because when his eyes locked with yours, he seemed surprised that you stopped him.

You were both startled when the shaman arrived with the finished potion but before he could have stepped to the injured king, the man in front of you lifted his hand. Although you couldn't see his mouth, you would have bet he pulled it into a malicious smirk.

"Ah look at that, trying to save him from harm, how touching," he tsked, mocking before he pointed at the potion in the shaman hands and then at the bottle in Xukun's. “How about this? One cup has dragon blood that could save the Dragon Clan’s last son. The other which you claim isn't poison was retrieved from your room by your own guard. Choose wisely, Princess, what to give our king because your hero will drink the other one.”

“Why are you doing this?” you shrieked, having enough of this mind game of his. You knew he was just a loyal guard of Yixing and you couldn't blame him for not trusting you but did he have to go this far to make you suffer?

“I cannot let the filthy Jade Clan take over the Dragon Clan. So you either save him or be executed for killing him which was your original plan, wasn’t it?”

"Save the king, Princess," Xukun told you, determined and maybe he had a plan, a better one than you or at least you hoped. You looked him in the eyes mouthing Please don't at him but he just smiled. How could he act so nonchalant? "Trust me," he whispered.

You let go of his hands and maybe it was a mistake because he had told you: he owed Yixing his life. You barely stepped to the bed of the king, lifting his head to help the shaman give him the potion when you heard glass breaking. When you lifted your head you saw Xukun swaying, barely grabbing on a chair to stop him from falling and the broken glass was by his feet. The liquid from inside was nowhere which meant…

"Kun!" you screamed trying to run up to him, to help, to do anything but the guards turned towards you with their sword out and you could only do one thing, listen to the boy who had once saved you when the stable's roof collapsed onto you, he hovered over your body with his to save you from the impacts of the falling pieces. He always did.

So when Kun told you to run, you ran. Back to your own tent to get your sword to be able to fight off and it was ridiculous how only a few days ago you fought alongside these men but now they wanted to kill you. Oh, how fast the tables turn but maybe you deserved this, maybe you deserved to die for killing the boy you loved since you had been 16 and had given him your first kiss under the stars. You might not have a future but you wanted to believe nevertheless, but you ruined it all.

You felt tears running down on your cheeks as you dodged the daggers and swords coming your way, hissing when one managed to cut your arm. You ran, you didn't look where, you just wanted to get away. If you killed Yixing's men, peace wouldn't have been an option, so you needed to escape, that was the only way to stop another war.

You stumbled when a huge shadow overtowered you and heard the scared muffled sounds of the soldiers following you as well. Gulping, you looked up at the majestic dragon in front of you, its nostrils flaring and smoke coming out of its mouth as it huffed. It stood above you, staring at the soldiers behind you as if… as if it was protecting you. It made you feel safe, like Xukun, and gosh, you just cried harder because he was trying to save you even now. You fell onto your knees, not knowing what to do with this information and then…

"It isn't nice of you to chase my fiancée away from me, is it?" Yixing roared in a forever calm voice and through your tears you could barely believe your eyes when you saw him walk towards you. And not just him, it was Xukun who helped him move because he must have still been in pain. But how?

The masked guards seemed just as flabbergasted as you were. But Kun, oh the deities, Kun looked almost smug as he passed by them after Yixing pushed him towards you. Then he ran, ran until he knelt next to you, taking your face into his hands. You touched him as if you didn't believe he was real.

"I didn't want to…"

"I know," he assured you with a stupid smile on his stupid face like he did back in that ruined house where he kissed you like you were his life line.

"I can't believe you drank the poison! How could you be sure your blood would fight it off?" you whisper-yelled at him, hitting his chest all too weakly and he laughed, too. The nerve of him!

"I wasn't but Princess, I would drink poison over and over again if it tasted like you," he said with a smirk and you would have bet Yixing told him about your agreement because otherwise he wouldn't have been so daring. Or was it the near death experience? Or the thought of losing each other all over again? The wars might have been still messy, politics stressing, but in that moment, you didn't care, you just closed your eyes and kissed Kun back when he pressed his lips against yours, happily burning with him.

#cai xukun x reader #xukun x reader #cai xu kun x reader #stories #fantasy au #royalty au

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ducktracy · 4 years

Text

happy birthday, tex avery!

today’s an important day for every cartoon fan. 112 years ago today, tex avery was born! probably one of the biggest contributors to animation, the man responsible for bugs bunny, elmer fudd, daffy duck, droopy, screwy squirrel, chilly willy, wild animation... there’s much to celebrate.

born in texas (hence the nickname, real name frederick), tex arrived in los angeles on january 1st, 1928 to start a new career. nothing much, just menial jobs: working in a warehouse, loading fruits and vegetables at the docks, painting cars, and finally painting animation cels for the oswald cartoons. moving from the short lived winkler studio to the universal studio, he became an animator in 1930.

(courtesy of tom klein.)

perhaps his work at universal spawned the most important event in tex's career. in 1933, he and a couple of his animation buddies were horse-playing. the game: shooting a spitball with a rubber band at the backs of peoples heads, yelling “bulls eye!” if shot successfully. the game evolved from spitballs to paperclips. animator charles hastings was armed with a paperclip and had his sights set on tex. someone yelled “look out, tex!”, and tex’s initial reaction was to turn around. vision in his left eye was gone in an instant. some people attribute the lack of depth perception to tex’s unconventional, warped point of view inserted in his cartoons.

universal was proving to be a lousy job for tex. he himself admitted that he wasn’t much of an animator. “i was never too great an artist. i realized there at lantz’s that most of those fellows could draw rings around me... i thought, brother! why fight it? i’ll never make it! go the other route. and i’m glad i did. my goodness, i’ve enjoyed that a lot more than i would have enjoyed just animating scenes all my life.” he was let go in april 1935 after the quality of his work declined thanks to a lack in interest. two days later, he and his girlfriend (an inker at the studio) got hitched and honeymooned in oregon. they arrived back in hollywood in may, where tex approached leon schlesinger.

to say warner bros was short staffed in terms of directors was an understatement. ben hardaway had just left, and friz freleng and jack king were the only directors there. tex flubbed his way in, citing his experience "'hey, i’m a director'. hell! i was no more a director than nothing, but with my loud mouth, i talked him into it."

(the termite terrace crew in 1935. from left to right: virgil ross, sid sutherland, tex avery, chuck jones, and bob clampett.)

though there were few directors when tex arrived, the staff was beginning to outgrow the studio. tex and his unit (virgil ross, sid sutherland, chuck jones, and bob clampett) moved into a rickety building they unceremoniously dubbed termite terrace as a result of the termite population within the bungalow.

tex’s first directed cartoon was gold diggers of ‘49, where he borrowed friz freleng’s characters of beans, kitty, and porky from the cartoon i haven’t got a hat. while beans was beginning to have his own small series of cartoons, this marks the second ever appearance of porky and is thusly an important occurrence. if tex didn’t use him, who knows what porky’s fate would be? gold diggers beans and porky are in the heart of the gold rush. beans strikes it big (tex’s love of gag shining brilliantly already as beans pulls a slot machine lodged into the side of a mountain) and invites all of his friends to dig for more gold. porky’s bag of gold is taken away from a villain, and he bargains that if beans can get the bag back, he’s allowed to marry his daughter (kitty). beans eagerly accepts and follows the villain. what ensues is an exhilarating gunfight turned car chase, tex’s knack for speed drastically picking up the pace of the cartoon. it’s exhilarating, rushing, and brought a much needed energy to warner bros at the time. perhaps even more amusing than the chase is the payoff itself: porky gets the bag back, which isn’t gold at all, but instead a hearty sandwich.

almost right away, tex rose to the top at the studio. some of his earliest merrie melodies (which had been exclusively reserved for friz freleng prior) include page miss glory and the classic i love to singa, both beautiful cartoons in their own ways. tex now served as the model. his gags were funny, his pace was quick, his cartoons GOOD, friz freleng and eventually frank tashlin adopting the change in pace. jack king, unfortunately, wasn’t faring well with the change, and his slower, duller cartoons stuck out like a sore thumb. he returned to disney in april of 1936.

porky’s duck hunt serves as an especially important cartoon directed by tex, marking a number of firsts. it’s the cartoon debut of daffy (who is unnamed, though model sheets label him as that crazy darn fool duck), and he first time mel blanc voiced porky. porky is also considerably slimmed down. the cartoon is exactly as it sounds: porky embarks on a duck hunt, but a screwy duck prevents him from getting anything accomplished.

the cartoon itself, in comparison to tex’s others, isn’t really that special. a bunch of drunken fish hilariously singing a rendition of “moonlight bay” serves as the highlight. it’s not a bad cartoon at all, i love it a lot and it’s one of my favorites, but it IS rather repetitive, and daffy is pretty stark in personality. 75% of his dialogue is reduced to quacks. but what DOES have personality, which would shape his entire character, is a particular exit animated by bob clampett.

porky fires his gun and strikes daffy, who flops into the water. ecstatic, porky sends his dog after him. all we see is a black blob in the water, and daffy haughtily tosses the unconscious dog on the shore instead of the other way around. flummoxed, porky pulls out some paper, flipping through it and protesting “hey, that wasn’t in the script!” daffy laughs it off. “don’t let it worry ya, skipper. i’m just a crazy, darn fool duck!” with that, he gives his signature hoo-hoo laugh as he literally flips into the horizon, twirling and hopping, clicking his heels, hoo-hooing all the way along. great animation by bob clampett and definitely entertaining, and a scene that would serve as the basis for his trademark laugh and his truly daffy personality (that would begin to die down as early as 1938).

tex made a number of other good cartoons, experimenting with daffy some more and playing with porky a little more until exclusively dedicating his time to merrie melodies in friz freleng’s absence (who was at MGM). the one that truly changed looney tunes was released on july 27th, 1940, titled a wild hare.

bugs bunny had existed before tex touched him, but didn’t at the same time. he was conceived by ben “bugs” hardaway in 1938 with porky’s hare hunt. very similar to porky’s duck hunt, the screwy rabbit taunts porky and prevents him from getting a good shot. the only thing bugs has in common with his prototype self is his species and name. (he wasn’t formally called bugs then, and thanks to a false story by mel blanc where blanc referred to the prototype as “happy rabbit” fans have assumed that was his prototype name. in reality, model sheets and illustrations from picture books around 1938-1939 name him as bugs’ bunny, possessive after ben “bugs” hardaway.) bugs is portrayed as a white rabbit with a hayseed voice and woody woodpecker laugh in hare hunt, not at all the cool new yorker we know and love him as. he reappeared in a few other cartoons, still his hayseed self in hare-um scare-um and a more collected take by chuck jones in cartoons such as elmer’s candid camera and elmer’s pet rabbit. hare-um scare-um turned the previously white rabbit into a gray and white rabbit with yellow gloves.

nevertheless, tex borrowed this strange rabbit and paired him with another character of his by the name of elmer fudd. elmer’s hunting wabbits, but bugs predictably taunts him the entire time and makes his life a living nightmare. the cartoon isn’t much different than the other hunting cartoons: prey drives hunter crazy, and prey ends up winning. it’s really just a glorified porky’s hare hunt. but at the same time, it has a certain charm. this previously unappealing, obnoxious rabbit is now cool, calm, and collected. an era of cartoons dominated by screwballs like daffy is now interrupted by the opposite, a smooth talking rabbit who always wins. bugs was rather temperamental in his early 40s cartoons, much more thin skinned, abrasive, and often a downright bully, but there was still something so different about him that audiences resonated with him regardless. so, while tex isn’t the true father of bugs, he absolutely is at the same time.

many fans believe that tex left warner bros after a dispute with schlesinger pertaining to his cartoon the heckling hare. in the cartoon, bugs (as the title suggests) heckles a dimwitted dog repeatedly. at the end, the two of them end up falling off of a cliff. both bugs and the dog cling to each other, screaming all the way. the scene is LENGTHY, nearing a minute of nonstop screaming. which, of course, is the joke. to see how long the audience can stand it. however, the cartoon cuts to an end rather abruptly. evidently, bugs and the dog were going to stop, with bugs remarking “hold onto your hats, folks, here we go again!” and thusly launching into a second fall. however, the “hold onto your hats, folks!” was a rather crude joke at the time, and thusly that’s assumed how the cut came to be.

story goes that avery left the studio as a result of the censorship, which seems plausible. however, that’s not the case. tex was itching to do a series of live-action shorts, with real, live-action animals talking and cracking jokes with animated mouths. tex wanted to do it, schlesinger didn’t. tex lived out his dream at paramount for a short amount of time, and thankfully for the rest of us got some sense and moved to MGM in september 1941 to make cartoons once more.

i’ve gone on way longer than i intended, and there’s still so much to be said about tex! all of tex’s best cartoons were at MGM, no doubt. he invented droopy, red, the wolf... red hot riding hood is considered one of the greatest cartoons of all time and spawned a number of sequels starring red and the wolf. all of the great qualities of tex’s cartoons from warner bros exploded at MGM. the fourth wall breaking, the gags, the speed... he also made the iconic “tex avery take”. limbs flying off characters and super big eye bulges... they’re absolutely fantastic. there’s so much to say about tex that can’t be articulated! he’s one of my favorite directors for sure and such an important figure in animation. he deserves all the praise and respect he gets and more.

happy birthday, tex!

#long post #analysis #this doesn��t do him justice you need to watch his cartoons yourself! esp his mgm stuff #avery

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dustedmagazine · 4 years

Text

Listed: Nick Jonah Davis

Photo Credit: Andy Joskowski

Nick Jonah Davis lives in Derbyshire, England, which is a place where evidence of older editions of England is always easy to find. Successive eras likewise coincide in his music. Davis plays acoustic and electric guitars, drawing on both American and English folk and instrumental traditions. He has worked with like-minded folk, such as C. Joynes and Sharron Kraus, and is also an established guitar teacher and provider of therapeutic musical interventions. He’s been recording the occasional solo record since 2009, and in 2016, Dusted’s Bill Meyer had this to say about House of Dragons: “the Nottingham-based guitarist isn’t living in bifurcations of the past, and he isn’t asking us to either. Rather, he invites the listener into a world bounded by the resonance of his tunings and the vividness of his evolving melodies.” Thread Recordings is about to release a swell new LP, When the Sun Came, and Davis has compiled a list of sounds made by some of his favorite associates.

Even for solo guitarists, music is a collaborative, social thing. For this list I’ve picked some music by artists that I’ve collaborated, recorded or gigged with over the last decade or so. Members of the NJD home team.

Kogumaza — “Ursids”

WAAT048 Split 7" w/Hookworms by Kogumaza

When I lived in Nottingham, Kogumaza were my favorite band in town. They play deep, droning riff-based cosmic guitar music which draws on their backgrounds playing with local heroes like Lords, Rattle and Bob Tilton. They’ve also done their homework, having sat in with heavy hitters like Glenn Branca, Damo Suzuki and Boredoms. This tune was recorded in Nottingham, with Nathan Bell of Lungfish sitting in on bass. I was the assistant engineer on this session, and remember getting a pleasing headful of Katy Brown’s kick drum as we set up the mics. Mind-manifesting stuff.

Ex-Easter Island Head — “Large Electric Ensemble Third Movement”

Large Electric Ensemble by Ex-Easter Island Head

Liverpool’s Ex-Easter Island Head are a revelation. They repurpose electric guitars through a variety of extended techniques, with unprecedented, nourishing results. I was lucky enough to play a couple of shows as a member of their Large Electric Ensemble, a 12-guitar band powered by 1 drummer and multiple Arts Council pizzas. I learned a lot from them in terms of playing guitar with craftily-deployed allen keys and bolts. Living proof that people can and do make genuinely beautiful, ground-breaking music without being all precious and up themselves about it. Good lads.

C Joynes and the Furlong Bray — “Sang Kancil”

The Borametz Tree by C Joynes & The Furlong Bray

Joynes and I have been fellow travelers in the solo guitar realm for many years now. We’ve probably seen more of each other’s gigs than anyone else alive. I was really pleased to be invited into the making of the Borametz Tree album. Not exactly sure how you’d describe my role on that project, but it involved some bass playing, some refereeing and, in the case of this piece, heading into my cellar with Nathan Mann to process some sounds through my echo units. I really love this bizarre, swirling piece of music. It defies description and I really can’t see how it could have happened under any circumstances. Power to the Furlong Bray.

Jim Ghedi — “Bramley Moor”

A Hymn For Ancient Land by Jim Ghedi

Jim popped up a few years ago, around the same time as Toby Hay, and has been a sure source of decent sounds ever since. Jim’s initial, masterful solo guitar work has bloomed out into an exploration of both traditional folk and his own songwriting. Having sat right next to him when we played together in my village a couple of years ago, I can confirm that he has a huge, resonant chest voice. Luckily, he always commits to his guitar just as fully, as you can hear on this jaunty instrumental on which I played some weissenborn. Nathan Mann pops up again playing percussion on this one, small world…

Cath and Phil Tyler — “King Henry”

The Ox and the Ax by Cath and Phil Tyler

I first met Cath and Phil at the legendary Sin Eater festival, a 3-day weekend of fine underground music and excellent ale at an isolated pub in Shropshire. Almost everyone on this list played there actually. This is folk music as it should be played, plain and flinty with a complete focus on the song. Understatement goes a long way in this music and, I suspect because of this, Phil is one of the most criminally under-rated guitarists around. There’s a little part of me that lives for Cath’s jaw harp break at the end of this one.

Toby Hay — “Now in a Minute”

New Music For The 12 String Guitar by Toby Hay

Toby has a special place in my heart for lining me up an annual show in a cafe at the wonderful Green Man festival for the past several years, meaning my family could go for free. Here’s a near-perfect example of a miniature acoustic study from his album New Music for the 12 String Guitar. The guitar in question was custom-built for Toby by Roger Bucknall of Fylde guitars. Fylde put out the word that a label was looking for a young guitarist to make a record on a custom-built Fylde that they would commission, and I immediately suggested Toby. He rose to the occasion. Reckon he owes me a handmade guitar though; I’ll give him a nudge one of these days.

The Horse Loom — “Silver Ribbon”

The Horse Loom by The Horse Loom

Steve Malley played in post-punk bands back in the day, gigging alongside the likes of Fugazi. He later picked up a Fylde guitar and went down an acoustic rabbit hole where his love of British folk and flamenco come to the fore. The DIY-or-die roots of his playing flash an occasional fin. After we met I persuaded him to come down to Nottingham and let me record his first album in First Love studio. He did the whole thing in a day and it’s awesome. This is my favorite instrumental from that collection.

Sharron Kraus — “Sorrow’s Arrow”

Joy's Reflection is Sorrow by Sharron Kraus

I started playing shows with Sharron as we were both UK artists on the Tompkins Square label at the time, so it kind of made sense. She’s a bit of an institution in psych-folk circles and eventually I began playing on her records and at live shows, which has been a real joy. This tune features some heavy drones and an occasional splish of my lap steel. It’s classic Kraus — mournful, insightful, immersive. If you want to hear someone with a bigger brain than yours talking about the weirder side of life, check out her Preternatural Investigations podcast.

Haress — “Wind the Bobbin”

Haress by HARESS

Haress is centered around the twin electric guitar work of Liz Still and David Hand. Located in downright gorgeous rural Shropshire, they ran the Sin Eater Festival and still put out essential music on Lancashire and Somerset Records. I reckon they’ve helped me out more than anyone over the years, releasing House of Dragons on vinyl and always setting me up a show when I need one. This gorgeous piece features Nathan Bell again, this time on trumpet. Those Nathans do get around.

Burd Ellen — “Chi-Mi-Bhuam”

Chi Mi Bhuam by Burd Ellen

I first saw Debbie Armour singing with Alasdair Roberts, a good start. When I went up to play in Glasgow in 2018, I asked if she’d like to open up my show at the Glad Café, which she did, alone except for a borrowed harmonium. I was mesmerized, I think everyone was. Too good for a support slot. Here’s a Gaelic vocal piece which demonstrates exactly who we’re dealing with here, a profoundly talented and committed artist with a lifelong immersion in traditional music, using it as a springboard into something entirely her own.

#dusted magagzine #listed #nick jonah davis #kogumaza #ex-easter island head #c joynes #the furlong bray #jim ghedi #cath and phil tyler #toby hay #the horse loom #sharron kraus #haress #burd ellen

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spoookymuulders · 4 years

Text

perchance to dream.

read it on ao3 here word count: 23,507 summary: With two families dead, the BAU is called to Colorado to try and connect the murders. Something about the deaths seems familiar to Reid, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. And when a familiar face shows up, it throws another cog into the machine, complicating things further. warnings: mentions of drowning, cpr, mentions of religion, mentions of death and cemeteries a quick lil author’s note on this chapter!! i wanna take a second to thank everyone who's read and commented on this story. it's the first multi-chapter fic i've posted in like.. ten years? probably?? and all of your comments and warm words were SO encouraging. i really really really appreciate all of y'all who read this! like i said at the beginning, this is the final chapter but it's not the end! we've got ten more seasons to get through and i already have a handful of drabbles written/half-written so be on the lookout for more additions to this series!!

chapter six. no place like home.

The summers die, one by one. How soon they fly, on and on. - Musician Herbert Kretzmer

Spencer Reid has never been a religious man. If there is a God, he’s often wondered why they would have let him suffer the way he did as a child? Why would they have let his tormentors harass him the way they did, why would they have let his mother suffer the way she does, when all she’s ever wanted is to put love and light and happiness into the world?

And why the hell would they have taken Parker away from him? Parker, the one ray of sunlight in his life - it’s where he’d gotten her nickname from. His mother had always said she’s like a ray of sunshine, and he’d always agreed. Parker is bright and happy and warm like the sun, and if anything happens to her he swears he’ll lose his mind.

People, religious people, have always told him everything happens for a reason. That’s crap, he thinks, because what reason was there for him to be tied to a goalpost at twelve? What reason was there for his father to leave when he was ten? What reason was there for him to be reunited with Parker, only to have her ripped away from him so viciously again?

Religious people have always told him God’s will must be done; that was Tobias Hankle’s whole thing. God’s will. As Morgan tears down the dirt road in the SUV, Spencer thinks that God’s will is stupid and ridiculous and he’d like to give God a piece of his mind if this is his will.

The SUV screeches to a halt, Hotch throwing the other one into park behind them as everyone hops out, drawing weapons and heading for the house. As they climb the steps, Spencer sees why Parker described it as something out of Pride and Prejudice - it looks like it’s been mostly untouched since that era. They clear the house and Spencer can hear his heart pounding in his ears.

“Where’s that brain, pretty boy, what’re you thinkin’?” Morgan asks.

“Shakespeare’s tragedies. He’s done Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth.” Spencer says, pacing slowly. “That leaves Coriolanus, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet - Hamlet.” He stops, his eyes widening, and yanks his phone out of his pocket, dialing Garcia’s number quickly.

“Boy Genius! How can I help?” She asks brightly.

“Is there a - a lake or a river or something near the house where Malloy held Parker?” He asks sharply. Garcia taps away at her keyboard quickly, chewing at her lip as she does so.

“Yeah, there’s a lake about half a mile south of there, why?”

Spencer doesn’t answer, snapping his phone closed and shoving it into his pocket.

“He took her to the lake.”

He’s moving before anyone else can say a word, his legs pumping faster than he’s ever run. Morgan and Hotch are hot on his heels, along with the rest of the team. As the lake comes into view, Spencer spies movement a hundred or so yards away.

“Over there!” He shouts, pointing in the direction Malloy just took off. Emily and Rossi sprint after Malloy, following the sounds of heavy footfalls and snapping branches. Hotch sends Reid along one side of the lakeshore while he takes the other and Morgan goes straight to the water’s edge.

It’s Morgan who finds her.

****

Emily doesn’t remember the last time she moved this fast - honestly, she’s not sure she ever has. She catches glimpses of Malloy through the trees as she runs after him with Rossi, her gun at the ready. When they stumble into a clearing and realize Malloy has trapped himself between them and the wall of a cliff, they slow their footsteps and move forward slowly.

“It’s over, Jacob.” Emily calls, watching him carefully. He looks around, as though he’s looking for a way out. Emily knows he won’t find one. His eyes flick between her and Rossi, a twisted smile touching his lips. “If you come with us now, we can work something out.”

She sees the look in his eyes - sees the moment that he realizes that there’s only two ways he’s leaving this forest; in handcuffs or in a bodybag. His eyes land on Emily again and he smirks.

“The rest,” He says, “is silence.”

With that, he charges at Emily. She wastes no time in firing at him twice, relaxing her stance only when he drops heavily into the grass. Footsteps coming out of the brush catch her attention and she turns, gesturing at Malloy’s body when the locals come hurrying out.

“Come on.” Rossi says, grabbing her elbow gently and tugging her back in the direction of the lake. “I get the feeling the kid might need us.”

****

He sees the fabric of her dress first, and he’s launching himself into the water before he has time to think about it. His heart lurches at the sight of Parker floating in the water, the green gown wafting around her delicately as she bobs up and down slowly in the waves. He slides his arms under her knees and her back, scooping her up, and hurries to the water’s edge, screaming for Hotch.

He lays her down delicately on the rocky beach, vaguely aware of Hotch stopping Reid behind him as Reid lets out a broken noise. He wastes no time in starting CPR, pushing heavily for the chest compressions and blowing air into her mouth. He prays silently as he works, willing God not to take her. Other hurried footsteps on the beach alert him to the presence of the rest of the team, but he keeps working.

“Come on.” He breathes, pushing against Parker’s chest again. “Come on, sweetheart, don’t do this. Wake up.”

Behind him, JJ moves to stand beside Hotch and Reid, touching Reid’s arm gently. Prentiss and Rossi stand shoulder-to-shoulder, watching anxiously. Hotch keeps his face stoic and stays silent, keeping his hold on Reid. Morgan won’t believe that Parker is gone. Not after everything she’s been through. After escaping from Malloy once, she doesn’t deserve to go out, not like this. Not here in this shitty forest, in this shitty lake.

He pushes again, and almost lets out a sob when she coughs suddenly, water spouting out of her mouth. He hurries to turn her onto her side, patting her back and helping her get all the water out. The tension in the air dissipates and Hotch lets his grip on Reid slacken. Reid sprints forward, dropping to his knees beside Parker and brushing her hair back as she lays against the rocks, eyes closed. Her hands curl around his wrists lightly and Morgan sits back, resting his elbows on his knees for a moment and hanging his head.

Reid helps Parker sit up and clutches her to him when she throws herself into his arms, sobbing. He clings to her like a lifeline, pressing his face to her shoulder, tears of his own adding to the lakewater clinging to her skin. He starts whispering apologies and she shakes her head against his neck, clinging to him tighter and curling her hands in the back of his sweater.

****

Spencer hovers by the end of the ambulance as the paramedics check Parker over. Aside from the bruising on her wrists and around her throat, she’s unscathed. His heart squeezes painfully as the paramedics step away and he sees her properly, wrapped up in an FBI windbreaker and with a heavy blanket from the paramedics around her shoulders. She’s perched on the back of the ambulance, her damp hair pushed over one shoulder, and she meets his eye and offers a tired smile. He tries to smile back, but he knows it doesn’t work.

She pats the spot beside her lightly and he pads forward, sitting next to her quietly. They watch the house silently for a few long moments before either of them speaks.

“I’m so sorry.” He says finally, his voice barely above a whisper. Parker shakes her head instantly.

“Don’t.” She says, her voice hoarse but firm. Spencer glances at her anxiously. “Don’t even start. This wasn’t your fault, Spencer, it was my own fault.”

“Parker-” He starts, but she shakes her head again.

“Spencer, I’m the one who wouldn’t let you come outside with me. If I’d let you come.. Who knows. This might not have happened. Or it might have happened and he might have taken you, too. Or done something worse to you, and I couldn’t-” She says softly, shaking her head and sliding her arm through his gently. Spencer sighs slowly, hanging his head, and Parker leans into him, resting her cheek to his shoulder. “I’m okay. I’m here.”

Humming softly, Spencer winds an arm around Parker gently, holding her against him tightly and closing his eyes. She scoots closer, tucking her chin to his shoulder and offering a small, tired smile when he turns his head to press a kiss to her temple. They sit in silence, shut away from the chaos of everything around them for a few minutes before Spencer kisses her forehead again and wrinkles his nose.

“You taste like lakewater.” He says quietly, and Parker scoffs, feigning offense, and smacks his knee gently.

“I can’t imagine why.” She retorts. Spencer looks down at her, smiling softly, and she returns it easily, winding her arms around his waist and squeezing him tightly for a moment. “D’you think the hospital will mind if I use up all their hot water to take a three-hour shower?”

****

Two weeks later .

Parker is still adjusting to life at home. She’s been staying with Jeremy and his family in Vegas - along with her mother and Spencer, neither of whom will let her out of their sight - and realizing that she didn’t miss the heat. She’s been getting to know AJ’s fiance, Alex, and Jeremy’s kids - her niece and nephew. It still blows her mind that she’s an aunt . That her big brother has kids . They’re all out at the park for the day, Parker perched on a bench as PJ and Luke sprint around after AJ and Alex. She smiles tenderly at the scene, then catches Spencer’s eye and jerks her head to the side. He nods and excuses himself from his conversation with Jeremy and Sophia, coming to stand beside Parker as she slides off the bench.

“You okay?” He asks softly. Parker nods, chewing the inside of her lip.

“Can we take a walk?” She asks quietly. Spencer nods, his hand settling at the small of Parker’s back gently as they slip away from the rest of their group. Spencer thinks at first that they’re just wandering, but it doesn’t take him long to see that Parker has a destination in mind, and he understands instantly as the gates of the cemetery come into view. She’s been putting this off since they came back to Vegas, but she knows she can’t do that forever.

They slip through the gates silently, Spencer’s hand lowering from Parker’s back. She slips her hand into his and he brushes his thumb along her knuckles slowly. She feels like she’s on autopilot as she heads for her family’s plot. Fifty or so feet away, she stops. Spencer stops beside her, looking down.

“D’you want me to come with you?” He asks softly. Parker shakes her head, exhaling quietly, and steps away from him. Spencer perches on a stone bench nearby as she approaches the headstone she’s looking for and sinks into the dry grass. She stares at it for a few long minutes, contemplating what exactly she wants to say. In the end, she settles for simplicity.

“Hi, daddy.” She says softly, sniffling. She swallows thickly, twisting her lip as she stares at the tiny dash between the dates of birth and death. “I’m home.”

Spencer watches from his spot on the bench, wondering if he should go sit with her. He decides against it - she needs to do this on her own. He takes in her body language, the way she sits with her legs criss-crossed first, leaning forward and picking at the grass. She talks to the stone for a while - something Spencer has never really understood, but he doesn’t question it - and when she finally sits back and pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them, Spencer stands and pads over to sit beside her, the grass crunching beneath his feet. She leans into him as he settles, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm gently.

“He’d be proud of you.” He tells her softly.

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

****

Jeremy has a hammock in his backyard, and that’s where Parker spends most of her time. Spencer finds her there now, one leg hanging out, the toe of her sneaker pressing against the tree one end is tied to so she can swing slowly, and an arm thrown over her eyes as she basks in the fading sunlight.

“Hey.” He says, stopping beside the hammock. She hums in response. “Jeremy says dinner’s just about ready. He wanted me to come let you know.” Parker lowers her arm, squinting at him in the sun, and Spencer raises a brow at her as she wiggles for a moment.

“Well, get in, dummy.” She says, squirming to adjust the hammock so there’s room for Spencer beside her. He laughs softly and climbs in carefully, draping his arm around Parker as she settles against him. He cards his fingers through her hair slowly, wrapping one of her curls around his index finger gently and admiring the way it catches the light as she rests her cheek to his chest. They swing together in silence for a few minutes before Spencer speaks, his voice just above a whisper so as not to disturb the quiet of the coming evening.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Parker hums in response, brushing her fingers along Spencer’s arm absently.

“I want everyone to stop treating me like I’m gonna break.” She murmurs finally. Spencer hums curiously, glancing down at her. She looks up at him, lifting her head to rest her chin to his chest and watch him as she speaks. “I mean - I get it. I do. But I’m not.. I’m not a teacup in a china shop. I feel like everyone is panicking about saying something that’ll upset me or whatever, and I - y’know, I’m not fine , but I’m okay. I’m not gonna shatter.”

“Everyone’s worried.” He tells her, and she sighs softly.

“I know, and I get it, Spencer, I do. But I just.. I wish everyone would stop treating me like I can’t handle anything anymore.” She says quietly.

“Parker, you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met.” He says softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear gently. “And we know you can handle anything. But you don’t have to. Not alone.”

“I know that, but.. I want to. I have to be allowed to do stuff on my own.”

Spencer hums softly, tugging at one of Parker’s curls gently and watching as it springs back into place. “I know how you feel.” He says finally. She glances up at him, resting her chin on his chest gently as he speaks. “There was a case a couple years ago that.. Went south, let’s say. Everyone treated me like broken glass after, like if they said the wrong thing I was gonna shatter into a million pieces. And maybe I would have, who knows? But I got through it - and some of it, I got through alone. But most of it, I got through with the help of the people around me. My family.” Humming thoughtfully, Parker nods.

“That’s what family is for, right?” Spencer continues, looking down at her. “They’re there by your side through the good stuff, but they’re there for you through the hard stuff, too. And you have - you have your mom, and the boys, and Sophia and the kids. You’ve got me - and the rest of my team, I think Morgan might like you better than he likes me.” Parker giggles at that, shaking her head a little.

“What am I paying a therapist for when I have you?” She says softly. Spencer grins, pressing a kiss to Parker’s forehead and holding her closer. He closes his eyes as she settles her cheek against his chest again, and as Parker’s breathing evens out, her breaths turning slow and deep, Spencer revels for the hundredth time at how happy - how lucky - he is to have her back. Before long, he’s sound asleep, too, lulled by the lazy swinging of the hammock and the quiet backdrop of crickets and coyotes in the distance, and Parker’s heartbeat against his ribs.

And as she sleeps, Parker dreams of her family, and her genius, and home .

There’s no place like home. - Author L. Frank Baum

#mine*#my writing #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x oc #drowning tw #cpr tw #cemetery tw #death mention tw #????? idk im tryna cover all my bases #fic: perchance to dream #series: vienna

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darkelfshadow · 7 years

Text

Session Summary - 24

AKA “Wardens”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 24 (Date: 3rd June 2017)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Balasar”) Dragonborn Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor”) Dwarf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- Phil (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male. <Played by Rob>

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male. <Played by Travis>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Valder”) Elf Male. <Controlled by DM>

Summary

- Fireday, 18th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter.

- The party begin this session, at the Keep, as the last of the Dragon Cult Army leaves Anwich, in the late evening.

- After being up two days, the party start to feel the effects of lack of sleep, and Gim, Nac and Balasar start to feel quite exhausted (now Level 1 Exhaustion from failed Constitution check - and now join Valder who is already on Level 1 Exhaustion).

- Sir Castellan tells the party to go to sleep and get some well earned rest. He invites the party to join him in the dinning hall in the Keep Tower to have breakfast and discuss matters.

- Valder goes off to the Tower, to take the time to perform the Ritual of Identification on the coloured flasks they found on the Kobold Alchemist. The Spell does not reveal any magic about them and Valder believes they must be of an alchemical nature.

- Before going to bed, Trenchant makes sure that the four dead Ambush Drakes are being seen to be the local skinner, to prepare the hide. And Nac, mysteriously says he wants to have a wander around the upper tower parapet for a bit, by himself, before heading to bed.

- The party go to sleep in the empty chamber on the forth level of the tower that has become their camp site. They sleep long and deep.

- Starday, 19th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter.

- The night goes uneventfully and the party sleep in some what, getting up an hour or so after sun rise.

- As arranged, the party make their way down to the dinning hall on the second level of the tower and enter to find Sir Castellan, Governor Tarbaw, Nesim and two strangers that are seated next to Nesim in deep conversation. Balasar recognises one of the strangers as the single rider he stopped and spoke to two nights previous, that was headed to Winterhaven to bring aid for Anwich’s defence.

- The party learn that these two strangers, Yeolin (the previous rider) and Umlar, are both Harpers; like Nesim. The pair arrived this morning.

- Whilst eating breakfast, Yeolin hands over a bag of mail to Governor Tarbaw, from Winterhaven, as the Imperial Couriers are having a hard time travelling the roads. Yeolin also has a separate scroll that was handed over to him by a mysterious hooded figure in Winterhaven, and was told it was for someone called Naillae.

- Naillae takes the scroll and reads a series of odd marks on it, the secret language of Thief’s Cant, and reads out aloud, “Urgent from Lington Guild. Report for Balasar.”

- Naillae explains that she has been keeping the Guild advised of their whereabouts through the various local Guild contacts in each village they pass.

- Balasar takes the scroll and reads it to myself, his eyes narrowing with concentration the more he reads the long scroll. Whilst he reads, Sir Castellan brings the party’s attention to a large detailed map of Tyriba that has various coloured marks written on it, and then he begins, “The Harpers here bring us news from their wide sources and the assault of the Dragon Cult is larger and more planned than we thought; there a multiple armies! As you know, a Cult army lead by a Blue Dragon, which we now know is called Lennithon, tried to attack Lington but was repealed thanks to the Red Guard Barrack soldiers, the Black Hand Knights and the work of two wizards. That army broke off the attack and moved on to here, and attacked us. Thanks to the efforts of Sir Castellan and your efforts too, even though the raid was successful for the Cult, the loss of life here was minimal. We estimate we lost about one fifth of our villagers but we lost about two thirds of our soldiers here in the initial assault, and of course they have successfully raided and stolen most of our wealth. Thanks to your efforts though we still have most of our food stocks from you saving the Mill.”

- Sir Castellan takes a sip from a cup of water before proceeding, “We also know of another Cult army lead by a Green Dragon, which is apparently called Venonfang. This army tried to attack Winterhaven but thanks to the well trained soldiers of Captain Kelfem and the Knights Of The White Tower stationed there, and also the assistance of a local wizard, the Cult army was turned back. This army then moved west to attack Winewold and successfully raided it, as it has no defences. We have reports that nearly half the population were killed and all of their wealth taken. Fortunately most of their food stores were not taken or destroyed; so they should be able to survive this.”

- Gim speaks up, “We know that Green Dragon Venonfang, we meet it at the ruined village of Thundertree.”

- Sir Castellan nods and continues, “We know of another Cult army, lead by an unknown White Dragon. This army attacked both Mingfalls and Erwaheath far to east. Both villages were hit hard and lost over half of their population. Again the Cult has stolen all of their wealth and also taken half of the food stores with them. The people of those villages will struggle to survive after this.”

- Valder speaks to Nac, “Nac, didn’t you tell me once that you’re from Erwaheath? And isn’t your mother still living there?”

- Nac replies without emotion, “Yes, that’s my village. When I left …. I did so on bad terms with her. Please continue Sir Castellan.”

- “Yes,” begins Sir Castellan. “We also know of another Cult army, lead by a Black Dragon called Voaraghamanthar. This army attacked both the villagers of Aengarwic and Andale to the north east. Loses there were high, with nearly three quarters of the population killed and most of their food stores either stolen or destroyed. Again all their wealth and valuables were taken. We can expect most of the survivors there to die of starvation over the next week or so.”

- “But the worst,” and now Sir Castellan halters a second before regaining his composure to continue, “But the worst is the last Cult army, lead by an unknown Red Dragon that attacked Ulsbrook to the far north east. There are no reported survivors. The butchers killed every last man, woman and child and spiked their heads to poles! After the village was raided and all its wealth stolen, every building was burnt to the ground.”

- After a brief pause, where no one speaks, Sir Castellan continues, “We also have news that many smaller hamlets, small isolated farm steads, road houses and taverns, and the like, have also been attacked and raided. There are also reports that the northern areas of the Kingdom of Asalea has been attacked and so too the southern areas of the Afrandul Kingdom. There are reports of multiple armies all lead by Dragons. Information is hard to come by from the other Kingdoms, we are unsure of the numbers of the armies or the Dragons involved. We do know one army is lead by a Green Dragon called Vorgansharax that commands a force to the far west, near the western shores.

- Sir Castellans voice now changes, edged with anger, “Lord Padraig of WInterhaven has also declined the Harpers request to send any martial aid to us here in Anwich. Lord Padraig stated he can not spare any troops in case the cult may attempt to attack Winterhaven again.”

- The mood in the room is now very somber. Governor Tarbaw now speaks, “I have received a scroll via a messenger bird from the King in the Capital, apparently a similar message has gone out to all Imperial Keeps, Forts, Castles and settlements with Imperial Barracks. King Erotill Alderd The Second has formally declared that Tyriba is at war with the Cult and the Red Wizards, as such the Kingdom is now under Martial Law. From now on all settlements will be in lock down, with all persons to be questioned and searched upon entry. All Freeman and those with no titles are to present themselves to their local militia to join the army to fight. Press gangs will go around to ensure locals do not avoid their duty. All Knights and Squires are to report to their Liege for the coming war. All settlements are to supply half of their food production to the local Imperial commanders as food rations for troops. All Imperial Troop Commanders, such as Sir Castellan here, are ordered to supply half of their rostered numbers of soldiers to the Red Guard Army, to fight under the command of Lord Ebor, Commander of the Tyriba Red Guard Army. As such, Sir Castellan here has been ordered to deliver fifty soldiers, which will only leave him with ten soldiers left to guard the Keep and Anwich due to the loss of two thirds of his forces already.”

- Sir Castellan calms the party down when they attempt to dissuade him from doing so as he would be defenceless, “I have my orders. It would be an insult from me to the King not to do so. The truth is, all those men, they’re just numbers. They’re fodder that will be thrown against the Cult and do little good. The conscripted men are just farmers, merchants, and servants; most have never fought or held a weapon in their lives. And most of our soldiers in the north have little to no experience in actual war. They will slow the Cult down but they will not win the war. What is needed are men and women of outstanding skill, bravery, valour and leadership to step up and join the fight. The King has also decreed that Troop Commanders such as myself are to keep a look out for the likes of these. In short, Tyriba needs heroes now. I have been authorised to grant Honouree Titles of Field Warden of Tyriba to those that meet these abilities. You have already done so much for Anwich, I should not ask you for more, but I must. If you were to walk away now you would still have my thanks for what you’ve done but if you to take up the mantle of Wardens of Tyriba you would have my respect too. Will you do it? Will you answer the call? Will you take up arms for Tyriba as Wardens in our time of need?”

- The party discuss this for a while and ask what exactly being a Warden will entail. Sir Castellan explains that being a Warden will allow the party to go anywhere in Tyriba without fear of being grabbed by a press gang for military service; grant free lodging and food from any Keep, Fort, Castle or Major Barracks; free and unrestricted access to any settlement without search or question; half price weapons and armour from any Imperial Smith; free repair and resizing of any armour or weapon from any Imperial Smith; free access to riding horses and limited access to war horses from any Imperial Stables; and as Wardens they can go about to perform any actions they deem necessary as they take orders only directly from the King or Warden Marshals; technically they would be of equal rank to most Troop Commanders. Also any actions or missions they take on by request of Troop Commanders, at their discretion, are to be paid and compensated from the Imperial treasury to cover their expenditures.

- Nac now stands and speaks, “Well Sir Castellan, if you wish us to take up the Office of Warden, I feel it appropriate to now tell you, and the others, everything about me and what I know in full. Then you may decide to do as you will.”

- The Cleric moves away from the table and stands to the side, looking over everyone, “Governor Turban, Sir Castellan, gentlemen you, and my fellow companions know me as Nac and that is what I go by but my real name is Nacrophyte The Adept and Death Priest of Taknisis but known in your parts as Tiamat The Dragon Goddess.”

- The two guards at the door reach for their swords and Governor Tarbaw has a shocked expression and starts to back away from Nac.

- Sir Castellan looks at Nac cooly, holding his hand up to stay his guards and speaks, “You’ve earned my time and patience with your acts and deeds. Speak on, Cleric of Taknisis.”

- Nac continues, taking out his holy symbol, showing the multi-coloured heads of five dragons, “Thankyou. As you say, I have proven to my companions and to yourselves through deeds and battle I am no lover of the Dragon Cult nor The Red Wizards, and nor is the Dragon Goddess Taknisis and with her divine grace still flowing through me, she has revealed the following to me.”

- Nac slams his hand down on the table, “Taknisis is angry, very angry! The Cultist and the Red Wizards have rediscovered a way way to bring her into our world but not as a goddess to be worshiped but as a tool for them to control.”

- Nac points to a spot on the map just north of Winterhaven, “The large twin mage statues here that lies on the road from Winterhaven to Anwich. My Goddess has revealed that it was through the rediscovered knowledge of these Elvin Wizard twins, knowledge they made long ago, that has brought this current war about. Virion and Merith, eons ago during the Dragon Wars, crafted in the spell forge of Wave Echo Cave, near Phandalar, six dragon masks, five of different colours and one of clear crystal. Each of the coloured masks bid the wearer control over dragons of that colour. But the real goal of the masks was that when all the coloured masks were combined with the crystal one, together they create a powerful artefact, The Mask Of The Dragon Queen, that not only brings Taknisis back into our world and plane of existence but under the control of the wearer of the mask! But it did this at a terrible price, the wearer of the mask is sent mad by the divine power of Taknisis, and with her power, the power of a Goddess, in the hands of a mad man; all will be lost.”

- Nac looks around the table to make sure he still has everyone’s attention and then continues, “They have some of the masks at the moment but not all of them. That is what they are secretly searching the land for, and have been for some time now, their spies covertly roaming the lands. We meet such as one before, Kost the Necromancer, Red Wizard of Thay, before this war with the Dragon Cult started; he was digging around the Old Owl Well up on the Grey Hills looking for something. At the time we didn’t know what that was, now we do, it was one of the masks. The wealth the Cult Army steal, the coins and gems and such forth, is only for tribute, for the Goddess, when she arrives. We must stop them from finding and controlling the masks. Some of the dragons they have in their army are there of their own free will, enjoying the destruction and killing, but most are not. Most of the Dragons are being forced to do the Cults bidding for the Cultist and the Red Wizards have stolen the Dragon eggs from their nests under threat of their destruction if they don’t comply. Only a single egg passes once in many centuries from each female Dragon, and for that reason they do not risk their destruction; they are being held at the place called The Hatchery.”

- Nac looks directly at Sir Castellan and Governor Tarbaw and presses on, “So, Sir Castellan, now you know what I am, do you still offer the Office of Warden to me.”

- Sir Castellan responds, “And if I did, what would you do?”

- Without any hesitation, Nac responds, “I propose that we recover these eggs from The Hatchery located north east from here and return with them to here for safe keeping. With those Dragons eggs no longer under threat by the Cult, most of the Dragons would be free to exact their revenge on the Red Wizards and Cultist for their treachery. Sir Castellan, what I would ask to help us in this, would be some of your best men to aid us with this task for the recovery of the eggs so we can stop the advantage the Cult Army has of its Dragons.”

- Now Nac looks back at the party, “My fellow companions the choice is yours if Governor Tarbaw allows this. It is your choice if you want to undergo this task with me because one way or another the fate of our world will rely on this.”

- Sir Castellan stands, “Well spoken Nac. That is exactly the spirit and determination that I need. Yes, I still extend the Office of Warden to you, and all your party. I believe it must be the will of your Goddess that you have come to this place now, it can not be mere chance.”

- The party is keen to join as Wardens, except Nac who doesn’t really like having to join a group that is working so closely with the Harpers but the freedoms and perks the office of Warden have with it, eventually bring him round to liking the idea of being a Warden; so everyone accepts the Warden title and Sir Castellan hands over a sealed letter of Title. Everyone that is except Balasar who is sitting silently by himself, still holding the scroll before him.

- Sir Castellan can only spare one soldier to help the party, and the use of a wagon and horse, which his soldier can drive and look after. The party can all have War Horses from the Keep stables. Umlar and Yeolin can not accompany the party on to the hatchery as they have Harper business to track down possible leads on the whereabouts of the Dragon Masks. They, along with many other Harpers, are following many many possible leads and sources of information from old books in scattered libraries.

- After the party agree to take the office of Warden, Umlar smiles and brings out a leather backpack. He explains this is from Valthrun the Enchanter from Winterhaven. The Wizard, who is part of the Winterhaven Council along with Lord Padraig, Captain Kelfem and Sister Linora, wanted the party to have this item on loan only if they agreed to join the fight against the Cult. The party learn that this is a Bag Of Sharing. There is an identical bag just like it, back at Valthrun’s Wizard Tower, and the two bags share the same space. Only one bag can be opened at a time. Valthrun will check his bag when he can, and anything that the party wish to store permanently without having to carry it, place it into the bag with a note and Valthrun will take the item out and store it within a room of his Wizard Tower that he will set aside for the party’s use and storage. When the party wish the item back, leave a note requesting the item to be placed back into bag. Also if the party wish anything sold or bought, the Wizard can arrange it, as they can just leave a note and coins in the bag to take care of it. Valthrun also asked that if they obtain any special organs or parts from rare creatures or plants to place them in special wax sealed water proof sacks that are already in the Bag Of Sharing, with a note so Valthrun can buy the items from the party. Now with this Bag Of Sharing, the party realise they do not need to go back to Winterhaven to give the Wizard back the items he wanted from the Alchemist here in Anwich and can be paid directly too.

- Balasar still holding the long scroll, stands up and speaks, “My friends this is indeed a time of change. The Lington Thief’s Guild has uncovered the information I requested previously. There is an opportunity to find my childhood friend Finnley but to do so I must leave you now my friends, as the time window is small and fleeting, and I must go alone, for they can only smuggle one person into Asalea. This is where I will have to leave you, my fate lays in a different path than yours now. My path lies far to the far west to deal with a promise I made long ago. Your path lies here to deal with the tyranny of Dragons.”

- The rest of the party try to talk Balasar out of it, but finding Finnley has been Balasar’s goal now for the last six years, and the Dragonborn monk is not going to let pass the first and only lead that he has uncovered.

- Sir Castellan aggress to give Balasar two of his fastest and freshest riding horses as thanks for his help in defending Anwich. The Dragonborn Monk spends a few minutes in saying his partings to his companions and dividing up the party treasure to everyone before his leaving, each person getting 40 gold coins and 98 silver coins. They all make a pack to go back to Lington in one years time, if they are still alive and if Lington is still there, to once again meet up at The Black Blades tavern to share tales over a drink. With this promise to try to meet up again, Balasar leaves to start his own adventure.

<Rob’s character Balasar is now retired>

- The party, saddened by Balasars leaving, follow Sir Castellan downstairs and out of the Tower, and into the inner compound of the Keep; as they plan to go to the Alchemists premises on the north side of Anwich to finish the business with Valthrun’s shopping list.

- As the group crosses the inner compound some of guards in the upper forward post shout out, as a group of about ten very badly injured soldiers, come limping into the compound via the inner gate of the sally port. Other soldiers rush up to help them. At the rear of the group is a strange looking female.

- She is wearing a long dark strange looking robe over well used travel clothes. From under the clothes can be seen the shinny glint of an impressive looking chain shirt. Long dark hair frames a face that is painted in bright colours, white and red, with dark piercing eyes, that have seen much in their time, looking straight ahead. She does not speak.

- The party and Sir Castellan learn from one of the injured soldiers that this band of Anwich soldiers had been out in the Changrove Forest to the east, on patrol, when the Dragon Cult Army first attacked the village and had been cut off from returning. They had no other choice but to hide and wait. They saw the Cult start to leave Anwich starting yesterday midday, leaving in small numbers and with wagons filled with loot. Then in the early evening yesterday they saw half the main force leave Anwich, lead by a female warrior in purple armour. Then later, the rest of main force left, lead by a Dragon looking warrior in armour, who held a silver war hammer. All these groups left via the east main road and after a short time, left the main road, to head north east into the Changrove forest. The patrol group decided it was safe now to return to Anwich but ran into a rear guard of the Cult. The patrol fought back but were losing as they were out numbered. They had five men dead and the remaining ten men were all badly injured when the strange looking female with the painted face suddenly appeared and began to attack the Cultists. She fought them off with such skill and force, and by wielding twin blades of energy that extended from her hands, that with her help the patrol was able to defeat the Cultists. She then agreed to help the men get back to Anwich as they were all badly wounded.

- Sir Castellan speaks, “Thank you my lady. I have you to thank for the return of my men, which I badly need right now. According to them, you saved their lives. Tell me, brave warrior, what is your name?”

- Her reply is strong with a strange accent, “I am Oloma. Your men fought bravely. I helped. They give me too much credit.”

- Sir Castellan continues, “Not according to them. You obviously have no love or favour for the Dragon Cult. Where are you from and why are here?”

- Oloma replies, “I am from the Kingdom of Halruua in the lands of Eridona. I am here now, where ever this is, but I do not know why or how I got here. I … I am not sure what I should be doing now or where I should go. I have no idea how to return to my home.”

- Valder coughs, “Eridona! That’s just a myth. A land lost long long ago, hidden away somewhere in the vast oceans, filled with mighty magic, so great that most of its inhabitants can wield magic or just move objects with their mind! Filled with wonders such as flying ships that go over all the land and with magical constructs of intelligence to do the bidding of everyone. Utter nonsense! It doesn’t exist.”

- Oloma looks at the Wizard calmly, “It does exist, for that is where I am from.”

- The party decide that as Oloma is able to handle herself in a fight, and as they are now one down with Balasar having left, they ask her to join the party and she agrees.

- The party leave the Keep and make their way through the raided village. Most of the buildings are damaged, a few a burnt, and rubbish and broken bits of wood and glass are scattered everywhere on the ground. Here and there, the party see a dead body of a killed villager. It will take a few days for the people of Anwich to clean up from this raid. They continue onwards to where the building of the alchemist should be but the path just ends at a nothing but a patch of beautiful looking green grass, that looks somewhat out of place compared to the rest of the ground around it.

- The party call out if the Alchemist is there, a moment later a small Gnome head, wearing a large purple hat appears out of no where floating in the air. When the Gnome is sure that the party are not with the Cult, the Alchemist Building starts to slowly appear and shimmer into solid view. The Gnome Alchemist, Felyur, welcomes them into his Alchemist shop.

- The party spend some time there and buy a lot of supplies that they may need. Whilst there the party show the three coloured flasks that they took from the killed Kobold Alchemist, that Valder could not identify any magical properties. Felyur confirms that they are alchemical flasks, not magical, being Liquid Ice, Dragon’s Fire and Alchemist’s Fire.

- After this shopping, the party return to the Keep, on the way seeing the locals now out and about, having left the Keep to start the process of cleaning up and repairing the village.

- Inside the Keep, the party take some time to disguise themselves as Cult members, using the captured Cult robes, and Trenchant using his disguise kit to put Tiamat tattoos on the party. Sir Castellan arranges for the wagon and horse, along with one soldier to drive the wagon. Sir Castellan also informs the party as this is an official mission that the party is undertaking as Wardens on behalf of Sir Castellan, he will cover the expeditions costs, and agrees to pay 250 gold coins to each person on return of the mission.

- The party leave Anwich, each taking possession of a War Horses from the Imperial Stables, whilst it is still early morning, on a clear but chilly day. The winds are strong this morning.

- Gim and Labarett ride in front, followed by Oloma on her War Horse. Next is the horse and wagon, with the Anwich soldier steering the wagon. Riding in the wagon are Naillae, Nac and Valder; their War Horses tied to the back of the wagon. Riding on their own War Horses at the rear are Sir Krondor and Trenchant. Valder sends forth is Owl familiar high up and ahead to warn of danger.

- Following the main east An-brook Road out from Anwich, after only ten minutes they see that a wide track off flattened grass leaves the main road heading north east into the Changrove forest that forms a winding track through the less dense sections of the forest. The party follow the easy and obvious path. Trenchant examines the tracks and determines that the tracks are made up of many many hundreds of boots and small feet, with wagon tracks as well, that go initially towards Anwich and then go away from Anwich; the wagon tracks being deeper on the second stage when they left Anwich. The party surmise that the wagons must now be filled with loot from Anwich.

- For just over an hour, the party follow the tracks through the forest, heading north east, and then the tracks leave the forest and head into the hilly and broken terrain of the vast Badush mountains. The party are now officially in the Dwarven Kingdom of Fanur but Gim and Sir Krondor advise the party that there are no Dwarven strong holds in this part of the Kingdom; they are far to the east. For the next hour they travel through the rugged region, where steep-sided, rocky plateaus replace the gentle rolling hills of the Haven Hills. The land between the plateaus is largely flat, broken only by outcroppings and wandering shallow streams, and steep sided gullies. The plateaus jut fifty to one hundred feet above the party, and are very difficult to climb, with loose rock and shale, leading to rock falls being a very real hazard. The crumbling sides of the plateaus are dotted with caves and tumbled boulder fields. The track the party is following is forced to wind back and forth, to keep to the level ground. Labarett warns the party that this environment is easy to set up ambushes.

- At about midday, the party see a trail of grey smoke, as if from a camp fire, about five hundred feet ahead. Due to the winding path, they can not yet see the camp fire itself. The party move closer, up to about three hundred feet away and Valder sends forth is Owl to see what lays ahead. Through the Owl’s eyes, Valder sees there is a group of 3 Cultists and 14 Kobolds (7 of which are very large) camped right on the track having lunch and it will be hard to avoid going around them unless they try to sneak past using the boulders for cover. Sir Krondor and Nac point out that with their heavy armour they will not be likely to sneak past without being heard and also the loose rock will make it hard to walk quietly.

- Trenchant comes up with a plan, he’ll ride ahead, pretending to be a Cultist and call out for help. He will then ride back and lead the Cultists and Kobolds into an ambush with the party ready and waiting. Trenchant places a hidden trip rope along the track, whilst everyone else slowly and carefully climbs up the slopes of loose rocks, to get into hiding positions up behind boulders. The Anwich soldier takes the wagon far back and out of the way.

- Trenchant rides back to the camp and as he approaches yells out, “You lazy sods, you let them follow you! Langdedrosa will have your guts! With me now and fight!”

- The Cultists rush immediately up, whilst the Kobolds seem reluctant to leave their cooking meat on the fire behind but eventually get up and follow behind the cultists.

- Trenchant leads the group back to the ambush spot, going over the trip rope whilst he was far enough ahead to be out of sight. When the lead Cultists get to the hidden trip rope they see it and stop. Immediately the party spring into action and the battle starts. Sir Krondor fires his long bow at the enemy group whilst Naillae starts to sneak towards the rear of the enemy. All seven of the larger Kobolds start to run up the dangerous slope towards Sir Krondor. One of the Cultists points at the Dwarf Knight of Fanur and the Dwarf feels all his limbs stiffen; he can no longer move as the Hold Person spell takes effect.

- Valder, seeing the seven large Kobolds running towards the immobilised Sir Krondor hurls a Fireball spell at the Kobolds. The engulfing ball of fire kills four of the group and injures the rest badly (31 damage). Labarett starts to hurl javelins down at the smaller Kobolds who in return, all seven of these smaller Kobolds run up the slope towards Labarett. Gim, Oloma and Nac engage the foes from range, using the boulders for cover, using crossbow, psionics and arcane spells respectively.

- Trenchant charges his War Horse towards the Cultists who are hiding at the base of the slope and lunges forward with his rapier at one Cultist whilst his War Horse knocks and stampedes into another, crushing him badly.

- Just as the remaining few burnt larger Kobolds reach Sir Krondor, he feels the Hold Spell leave him as the Cultist that was maintaining the spell had his concentration broken by a Chill Touch spell cast by Nac. Likewise Labarett finds himself surrounded by several of the smaller Kobolds but the Elf Barbarian launches himself into a blind rage and begins to knock Kobold after Kobold over dead, whilst their daggers glance off the Barbarian doing little damage. Naillae tries to get up to Labarett to help but accidentally throws one of her daggers into her boot, getting herself stuck to the spot (Fumble attack).

- One of the Cultists, desperate to get the Bard off his War Horse, points his finger at him and shouts, “Dismount!” with eldritch power behind it but Trenchant ignores the Command spell (successful save).

- Gim fires a cross bow bolt at one Cultist that nearly takes off his arm (Critical Hit - triple damage - 26 damage).

- Trenchant moves his War Horse over to the badly injured Cultists that has crawled away behind a rock, after behind trampled by the hooves of the Bard’s horse, and he yells a Vicious Mockery, “Normally horse shoes are lucky but not for you I say!” that through the power of Bard’s voice cuts physical damage into the enemy.

- Naillae has more bad luck and accidentally cuts one of the straps holding her armour (Fumble attack, -2 AC until it is repaired).

- Eventually one by one, the enemies are killed and the party are victorious.

- The bodies and the camp site are searched, and on the three Cultists are found a total of 28 silver coins, and in a sack near the camp fire is found two pewter candle sticks, a silver dish and four small silver trinkets that bear the mark of the Temple of Chauntea from Anwich. The bodies are moved out of sight over a ridge from the track and then the party help themselves to the cooked meat, a large prairie dog. Valder uses his Mend Spell repeatedly over a ten minute period to repair the armour of Naillae.

- Continuing onwards the party follow the tracks as it leads ever upwards into the Badush Mountains. About two hours later as the party moving between two particularly steep slopes, Valder gets a sense of danger as his Owl above sees something but it is too late. Only Sir Krondor, Nac and Naillae are not caught by surprise as 12 Cultists, 3 Cult Fanatics and 2 Mercenary Veterans spring up, hidden from view by hessian sacks, covered in sand and small rocks. The party are now surrounded by the enemy forces that are on both sides of the track, about 50 feet up the dangerous slope, and using boulders for cover. The hidden ambushers launch into battle, as the party failed to shout out the required password.

- Before the party can react, the ambushers push prepared boulders down into the valley where the track is and the party are forced to jump for their lives as large rocks and boulders roll at them. Luckily most of party avoid taking too much damage with Trenchant, Labarett, Gim, Nac and Oloma taking the most (Failed Saved). The Anwich soldier is now badly wounded.

- The party spring into action, jumping off their War Horses and using boulders for cover, except for Trenchant who skilfully guides his War Horse up the dangerous slope towards six of the Cultists. Likewise Labarett, filled with rage once again, sprints up the dangerous slope with the spirit of the Elk speeding him, to engage the other six Cultists on the other slope and swings blindly at the Cultists.

- The two Mercenary Veterans are raining large cross bow bolts down upon the party fired from heavy cross bows. At the same time the Cult Fanatics are casting spells at the party, causing Spiritual Weapons to appear around Labarett and Gim to attack them. Labarett takes a bad hit from one of the heavy cross bows (Critical Hit - Maximum Damage)

- Trenchant puts to sleep all but one of the Cultists on his side before approaching the last to charge at him with his War Horse. The Bard shrugs off a bad hit from one of the heavy crossbow bolts and bravely presses on (Critical Hit - Maximum Damage and possible joint injury which was avoided due to successful save).

- Valder launches another Fireball at a group of one Mercenary Veteran and two Cult Fanatics, and the ball of heat and flame badly injures all three. (23 Damage).

- Meanwhile the rest of the party have taken up defensive positions behind cover and are attacking at range back at the ambushers: Sir Krondor uses his longbow, Naillae throws her daggers (with no success at the long range needed), Nac fires his Chill Touch spell, Valder fires off his Eldritch Blast spell (hitting one of the Cult Fanatics with a heavy blast with a Spell Critical for double damage), Oloma fires her psionics, and Gim uses his cross bow.

- When all of the Cultists are quickly finished off Labarett rushes towards one Mercenary Veteran, scoring a savage wound on the enemy (Critical Hit) whilst Trenchant charges his War Horse towards the over Mercenary Veteran and Oloma starts to charge up the tricky slope too.

- Again the party kill off all the enemy but not without all the party taking injuries, with Trenchant and Labarett being very badly wounded. The party quickly kill off all the sleeping Cultists except one who they tie up with rope just before he wakes up from the Sleep Spell.

- Nac performs the Ritual of the Prayer of Healing to give all the party, the Anwich solider, and their horses some badly needed healing.

- The captured Cultist is questioned: Trenchant tries to persuade him, Sir Krondor tries to intimidate him, and Nac also tries to persuade him to talk but they all fail to do so. (All failed rolls). The Cultist simple looks at them in contempt and spits at them. Nac plunges a dagger into the prisoners chest and rips him open to his throat, killing him, saying, “He wouldn’t talk. He’s a zealot.”

- All of the bodies are searched and there is nothing of value on them.

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Accepting The Responsibility (All Party Taking Office of Warden) = 300 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Cult Fanatics = 2700 XP

- Kobolds = 175 XP

- Kobold Bully = 1400 XP

- Veteran Warrior = 1400 XP

- Cultists = 300 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start + Received = Total (Notes)

Phil : 18875 + 588 = 19463

Rob : 21845 + 980 = 22825

Arthur : 15328 + 784 = 16112

Bob : 11400 + 784 = 12184

Travis : 11692 + 980 = 12672

Paul : 10086 + 588 = 10674

NPC (Valder) : ??? + 392 = ???

NPC (Naillae) : ??? + 392 = ???

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