News
about
Administrators and moderators will post important news here. Please be sure to check back regularly. :)

freebies
Freebies are sometimes posted on this board. Please be aware that a freebie can only be claimed up to one week after it was posted.

Freebies are often granted to "all active characters". A character is considered active if it has made an IC post within the last 2 weeks. Posts made after the freebie was posted do not count.

part nine.
IP: 2.27.240.21
Posted on June 3, 2014 at 09:59:55 PM by georgia

PART NINE Apeliotes Island "You're certain of this?" Allianah followed a few steps behind her partner, frowning. Morgana just smiled in a way which reminded her far too much of her father. The guard had been waiting at the docks with their horses when they returned, so it only took about forty minutes to get from there to the commune on horseback. The last ten minutes or so through the forest slowed them down, but they sped back up to a canter once they made it into the clearing in the grove. At this time, in the early hours of the morning, there was no one around to worry about knocking over. Morgana cantered right up to the house she wanted, reigned her horse in and dismounted swiftly. She knocked loudly on the door while Allianah followed suit. They waited. Morgana knocked again. And waited. After four knocks, and just as Allianah had made her first threatening step towards the house, the door opened inwardly and a bleary-eyed man appeared. Allianah disliked him instantly. He looked as if the only exercise he did was to walk from his bedroom to his kitchen, and he had a saggy belly, thick fingers, and crafty, watchful eyes. Since he was in about his late forties and wore a high quality, cashmere dressing gown and fluffy slippers, he had the air of a man who had made his success long ago and was now reaping the benefits. He was balding but none of his hair was grey, which was probably more indicative of the use of product than any natural luck. "My Lady," he exclaimed sleepily, although Allianah noticed his eyes were quite alert. "What in Shaman would bring you to my door at this hour?" "We need to see your stock, Murray," Morgana replied, a little curtly. "Now." Few would have dared to argue with the princess and mayor of the town when she spoke in that voice, even if she didn't have a warrior goddess glaring over her shoulder. Murray hastened to one side as the two women strode through. His house - one of the larger buildings in the village - had been converted into a shop on the ground floor. Allianah saw immediately why Morgana had wanted to come here: the shop contained all sorts of trinkets, some marketed as antique, many more labelled as rare. The guy was clearly a dealer of sorts, and he specialised in high value unique items. If the pirates had looted anything from the old houses on top of Apeliotes Island, they'd need someone on the mainland to sell through, and Murray was their man. Morgana didn't even glance about her as she marched straight towards the curtain at the back of the shop, behind the desk. The merchant squeaked and made a move as if to stop her, but swiftly withdrew when Allianah glared at him. She ducked under the curtain after the demigod, leaving Murray to follow reluctantly. "I can't imagine that there's anything which would help you against the ancient creature back here, My Lady," he smiled mildly. He had a charming voice which didn't suit his odious appearance one little bit. "How do you know what we are looking for?" Allianah demanded, one hand reaching for the knife on her belt. Murray eyed her warily. "A hunch, seba'iqer." "We're looking for items from Apeliotes Island," Morgana smiled back at him. "Specifically, from Aura's house. I'm sure you must have some somewhere." Murray blinked. For the next few minutes, he lied and wheedled, protesting his innocence as an honest goods merchant. Morgana was firm but patient. Allianah was not. After only a short time the deity's infamous impatience got the better of her, and she reached up to unholster her wooden stave. Murray took one look at her facial expression and suddenly 'remembered' that he had a few things which he had 'found' washed up on shore a long time ago. He pointed Morgana hastily towards the far corner of the room and scuttled out of beaming range. Allianah slipped her stave back into its holster triumphantly and followed Morgana over to the place where Murray had indicated. There wasn't much. A few trinkets, and quite a lot of stacked papers. Allianah started flicking through the documents while Morgana picked up what looked like an ordinary, everyday mug. It didn't look like something from a goddess's house, but then, Aura had been one of the humbler goddesses. The younger woman set the mug back down and glanced over the other objects, which included a quill with a broken nib, a leather pouch containing what looked like archaeological tools, a replica of Aura's divine pendant, a book on magical theory, and a light blue scarf. She touched the pendant lightly, before picking up the pouch with a very small smile. It was doubtful that those tools were Aura's. As if they were on the same wavelength, Allianah spoke. "This is not Aura's handwriting," she muttered in disgust, casting aside sheet after sheet. Morgana peered at one over her shoulder. "No," she replied, amused. "It's Thoth's handwriting." "What?!" Murray looked aghast - as well he would upon finding out that many of the precious documents were in fact not so precious after all. If it hadn't been owned by Aura, it was valueless. He looked like he was about to cry as Allianah tossed page after page on top of the 'Thoth' pile. "But they're stamped with her symbol!" "He probably just stole the stamped paper," Morgana smiled. Murray lifted his pudgy fingers to his temples and groaned. "We will not find anything in an official document," Allianah told them in her abrupt manner. "Aura was disconnected from the council. We're looking for something unofficial, but written in the ancient language. She would not have been writing for an..." she paused, frowning at the paper in her hand, "...audience. Look at this." Murray started forward eagerly, but Allianah shot him a cold look which stopped him in his tracks. Morgana took the paper gently from the deity's hands and scrutinised it, her pulse racing. The paper was yellow and faded, and looked as if it had incurred water damage at some point, since it was crinkled and some of the text was smudged. That is, if it was text. Drawn carefully across the page in black ink were a series of glyphs from no language Morgana recognised. Parts of it seemed pictoral, but other parts just looked like lines or simple, flat shapes. Allianah reached across and lightly touched part of one line. "This is the ancient language," she confirmed, "but I don't think this is." She pointed to the lines. "There is nothing else here worth anything to us. We might as well take this back to the castle and see if someone can decipher it." She rolled the paper up and carefully tucked it into her belt beside her knife. Morgana nodded and started for the curtain which led to the rest of the shop, but Murray blocked her path. "Now wait just a minute, ladies," he protested. "I paid good money for that document - " "Paid?" Morgana lifted one eyebrow critically. "I thought you said you found it washed up on shore?" "I paid good money to have it restored," he corrected himself hastily. "It was a wreck when I found it. I'm happy to give it to you ladies, but a small reimbursement for my efforts - " Allianah snapped. Before anybody realised that she'd lost her temper she whipped her stave out of its holster, moved her right leg forward, turned her body side-on and whacked the stave on the side of Murray's head. The resouding crack echoed throughout the stock room and Murray jerked sideway, tripped over the curtain and fell through the archway into the shop. He hit the floor with a soft flump and laid there motionless, either unconscious or wisely pretending to be. Allianah returned to her normal standing position and flipped her stave expertly back into its holster, while Morgana just smiled in that worrying Mallos-like manner. Allianah cast her a haughty, dignified look before striding forcefully through the archway.

Written by Georgia

Replies:

• part ten. - By georgia June 3, 2014 at 09:59:47 PM
• epilogue. - By georgia June 3, 2014 at 09:59:27 PM

You must register before you can post on this board. You can register here.

Post a reply:

Username:
Password:
Email:
Subject:
Message:
Link Name:
Link URL:
Image URL: