21st trial, Vhalar, 719
The Underground, Eastern Commercial Circle
17th break
The Underground, Eastern Commercial Circle
17th break
Continued from here
It was she that spoke the words. She that he loved and feared in equal measure. Hated, too, in his own, tremulous way. The sort of hatred that was more qrapped up in envy that true, honest malice. He wasn't much older than she, yet he knew others in their... order, who had raised themselves much higher by his age. Yet there he was, still kneeling under the weight of her power. Twelve arcs, give or take a season, of being "the second". Always as he was introduced, that was. Ever the second. The other one. The deputy. The underling.
The lesser. No matter who was beneath him, she made it clear that he was very much beneath her.
And why? Oh, he had many reasons. Excuses, if he was honest with himself. Internal politicking. Favoritism. Blind luck and the ineffable plots of their Mistress, that for some indiscernible reason valued her over him. These were the reasons as he saw them, for he was never honest or self-aware enough to hear what that difference was in the speaking of her words. He turned as she said them, standing up as she finished communing with the battalion of spiders at her feet.
Calm. Stating fact, not quavering out some ominous, melodramatic portent. Her face matched her words. Composed and almost regal. Every inch the daughter of Their Mistress. Her eyes flickered over the satchel he carried, clutched to his side with sweaty hands. She smiled.
"If I fall, my friend... you must escape. Go to the man who helped us in the past, before Lissira's madness and the turning of the tide against us. Let him know you have records, information that cannot be erased with the murder of those that carry it in their heads. He will listen, then."
"We can beat him, Vel," Felix whispered, fierce and childish bravery in his voice. "Remember those Naerikk, under Andaris? Three of them, under the ground with us. Just... masses of shadows with claws and fangs. I thought we were dead, but we survived. Survived and killed them all. We can-"
"We may yet, Felix," she said gently, looking out at the tunnels with a soft smile. "Show me what you've done."
Felix smiled back, for he did delight in showing off his works. He made a gesture with his hand and as if by magic (well, exactly by that means, actually), a stone in each of the four tunnels leading into the chamber glowed briefly. Not all of it, just the runes etched on them. Two of Weakness, and two of Numbing. Umbral Runes, more difficult to maintain, but so deliciously useful when it came to traps.
"Activated by Touch, of course," the Hone-trained mage said with a smug little smile. Another gesture and the lights vanished. Bare, dull stone was all that was left to the eyes. "No avoiding them, I reckon."
"What if he just walks around them?"
Felix smiled and winked, patting his lips with one bony finger. "Verbal Trigger, ma'am. I say the word, the runes activate. If he's within a foot or two, they'll effect him. Between them, our little auxiliaries-:" he gestured to the literal carpet of arachnids swarming around their feet "-and our own mundane gifts, we should be able to overwhelm him."
Velara nodded firmly. As if her words comforted and strengthened her. As if she was under so much pressure, as leader, as commander, and if was her loyal second who ever kept her standing under the weight of it. Felix believed that for a moment... never wondering if her own marks were working on him. Subtle and controlled. That was her way. But Felix?
As if, she thought and both of them turned as something moved in the darkness. The tunnel mouth to their right yawned like a vast stone mouth. Just do as you're told and don't bugger it up. Like under damned Andaris!
"Ready yourself, my friend," the woman said, facing the darkness with her hands behind her back... and a hidden blade sliding into each. "Death comes for us. Let's show him what a mistake that was."
