Calia rode on at a good healthy speed, following the trail of the escaping villagers, inwardly glad that they’d listened about riding for as long and hard as they could. The more distance they got from the capitol the better as Calia doubted Derrick would’ve left demons sporadically dropped all over the kingdom. Because there were a lot of small villages spread all over the kingdom. Even if she wanted to, there was no way to ride out to warn them or fetch them. Not by herself, not without a way to actually fight demons without getting her own ass handed back to her. She hoped the people of Caeldalmor would live up to their spirit and ingenuity to defend themselves.
The princess did not know where that little spark of hope was coming from, and it was quite inconvenient. Painful, even, if she were honest, to have that sliver of hope only to keep having everything go wrong and get worse. Hope was nothing more than torture in her opinion.
Yet by the time she’d caught up with the fleeing villagers where they’d finally stopped to give their animals time to rest and to camp for the night, that hope just kinda sat there in the empty hole where her heart was supposed to be. Giving a sigh of relief that at least these few people were okay for the time being.
Calia first sought out the elder that had the authority and standing for these villagers, as she was not about to start taking over like some… well. Like she was their Queen. That wasn’t a title she deserved or even wanted. But there was still a compulsion to check over things, so the princess had a quiet discussion with the man to make sure he had a head count of all his people. Discussed with him about the need to do inventory on their supplies, as they’d all had to leave in such a hurry and with many things getting left behind that there may not be enough food and water for the journey. There would be a few days before they’d make it to the eastern pass, and while inside the mountain tunnels, there wouldn’t likely be food to be foraged. Hunting and foraging would have to be done along the way, as well as filling barrels with stream water.
She also got up to pure mischief on behalf of Archimedes. Inspired by her elder sister who once handled a bullying sort with nothing but smiling politeness. Killing with kindness is what Calia had called it then, though now it was more along the lines of Malicious Compliance. For that demon had figured out how to manipulate her and play on her weakness before, well, now she’d learned his weakness. If Archimedes wanted attention and to be fawned over, then he was going to get exactly what he wished for.
So Calia told a grand story! The best part was that it was completely true… if embellished just a little. About the elven stranger that’d spent the night in their village, how brave he was to face that awful pale demon. How he used his magic to defeat it and bury it in the ground. That he’d saved her life from getting possessed by it’s wormy companion (of course, that’d happened the night before but they didn’t need to know that) and that he was truly a hero for them all. She never would have escaped to be able to join them, had he not been there. Oh, how she hoped he was okay, that wonderful heroic man!
He was going to be so high up on a pedestal that he’d break his neck on the way down.
It was well closer to the dusting of dusk by the time he had meandered his way to find where the villagers had fled too. Granted, he had not expected the sort of reception he had walked into either. Suddenly being seen and greeted with a fanfare that might have been suitable for some herald long lost king, rather than himself. And it had thrown him entirely off immediately.
Sort of mentally grasping for what the hell had happened till one of the villagers that had come to greet ever so helpfully expressed they were told of his work by the woman named Calia.
And all it took was that little statement to make him properly uneasy. Keeping it close to chest and suspicious because what the hell was her plan? No way he looked at it did it make a lick of sense to what she was doing or saying. Even the nonsense about the demon worm –that was a whole ass day ago- but he couldn’t exactly say that. Because he didn’t want much association with her. He’d gotten his requirement from being freed from his confined lesser form so truly, what was she getting at here.
Sure, he liked the praise but it was tainted. In such a sickening glee that he was liable to have all his teeth rot out from it all!
Thankfully, he gave a expression that he was merely needing time now to sit. To rest and recuperate because expelling such lengthy spells and such was demanding of one’s body. It was, but he also didn’t live by mortal rules as extensively. There were expectations of course that he gave in reply to what he did, but the stretch of use was broad. Wide and a bit of blood was good enough to temper any exhaustion typically.
Yet, he was pretty ready to be given menial tasks. When the option of finding water came up, boy howdy, he was on that like stink on a pig. Promptly departing from all this hullabaloo to scout away with the idea that he could find water of some sort.
Maybe he ought to just get the hell out of dodge now! This all praise stuff wasn’t nearly as fun when some crazy woman was sprouting about it!
It could not have worked out better in Calia’s opinion. She’d stayed well out of his way, plenty enough busy with helping everyone get settled in for the night. Looking for means to get food prepared and shared so that they could douse out the fires before nightfall came. Not trusting that their campsite would be safe if those blasted crows were following the scents of smoke.
One peep at his face, though, was enough to tell her what she wanted. Practically preening to herself that his joy of getting attention wasn’t quite going the way he’d wanted. Betting he wasn’t he wasn’t going to stay too sour about it, as the lovely Isabelle was going to be more than likely all over him with renewed interest. Others too, by the sounds of the gossip she’d eavesdropped on. Nothing was more attractive to a village woman than a handsome man with a heroic streak.
As for Calia herself, she’d almost gone out with a small trio to see about hunting down a faun or stag, but ended up staying in the camp. Many of the village men were able of mind and body, but none of them were really combat trained for anything beyond a good tavern brawl. If more demons stumbled upon them, Calia wanted to be sure she was there as a buffer for the villagers.
Archimedes seemed to think that was suicidal, but Calia was not actively trying to get herself killed. There was a strategy to it, to standing in the way and giving other people time to act or flee. Because Calia could be a shield and survive being one in a way that others couldn’t. As much as she felt stupid these days for choices she was making, there were skills she’d learned over the years that for once in her life could actually be used!
As a princess she didn’t amount to much. Calia was realizing now that she was not a person needed in times of peace, she was someone better suited for a hot mess of chaos. If only she hadn’t been the one to inadvertently allow this chaos to happen. If only she could figure these things out faster without having to go through learning the hard way first!
Regardless, Calia made sure to give Archimedes all the space he wanted. In fact, she didn’t even acknowledge him at all unless someone pointed him out and asked her a question. Then she would simply give out a wide cheshire cat smile, something that probably came across as sweet and flirtatious to the villagers but more truthfully something a little smug.
Well he could take a pretty obvious hint. And it was so god damn loud that he’d have to be physically dead not to pick it up. Whatever reason Calia had decided that she wanted to of course play this game of bemused prodding and picking; he wasn’t about to repeat the same response as last time. Mostly, what the hell was the point of aiding these people getting away if he was just guna use them as livestock to slaughter.
Even to him that was mindless.
But he was good at being sure how to get away from things that weren’t exactly in his cards. It could have been but it was no longer fun as the means of pursuit either.
Bah, last time he did anything half decent.
He hadn’t found anything grand in the way of some rushing river or creek –then again he hadn’t really tried- when he came back to the little grouping. And found Isabelle promptly seeing as it looked like she had been waiting. “Arc,” She grinned and it was nearly enough for him to contemplate the means of staying put for maybe an hour more.
No.
No he wouldn’t.
It was far too much nonsense and empty praise that was formed because another person just couldn’t handle not being the one that did everything. Or something like that. Actually, that didn’t matter. She could do whatever it was she was doing and he, didn’t have to obey. Play by the same rules or even the same game! “Isabelle.” He greeted cordially as she attempted to reach out. Only that he caught her hand to lightly peck the back of it. “I’m going to go a bit further to check around for water. So give me a bit of time.” He lied. Expertly, even if he could see the palatable worry. Of course out there was danger. Together they were surely fine. Well they weren’t but whatever. “Don’t worry, remember. Hero.” He used the constructed over the top fabrication of Calia to this favour.
“O… okay. Just don’t go too far. Alright.”
A light squeeze and he nodded in no attempt to actually oblige this. “Of course, stay with the rest. I will be back shortly.” She didn’t even hide her uncertainty but of course Calia had made this big show of his apparent feats. So now, he surely could not be stopped. If he took down the monster already, then no other would stand against him.
Pah!
With a light pat to the arm, he twisted. Making a show of determining which way he was going to go next. Eventually picking a direction that seemed like he had made a good choice with a purposeful step off. He’d get a few hundred yards away and just book it to the east tunnel.
So long nauseating commentary and bullshit!
Rest could do a lot of a weary soul, even if that soul was liable to be shattered into a million pieces scattered across the world in the form of stolen hearts, buried feelings, and a sense of being disconnected. At first Calia tried her best to keep her distance from the refugee villagers. If it wasn’t a task she was undertaking, or some form of help, she tried to keep conversations at a surface level. There were so many reasons for this!
For one, Calia was not used to just being outside the capitol without a glamor to mask her identity. It had never changed her appearance, made her charming or anything of the sort, it’d just been something that made her seem generic and forgettable so she could do as she pleased without fear of anyone realizing she was a Princess of Caeldalmor, and the sort of reputation that could follow. Now she was Calia, all herself and nothing else, so it left her feeling exposed.
Luckily for her, dark haired girls were a dime a dozen out here in the mountains and Calia was such a common name there were even two others in this grouping that shared it. Ms. Cali, who was a crotchy old woman with an attitude she could only aspire for, and little Leelee who could barely be considered a teenager and seemed to know everything one could possibly know about rats. No one yet suspected her of royal blood and nothing about her really screamed princess, anyway.
Secondly, she was so worried that her curse was going to trigger some disaster event. That if she stayed too near them, something was bound to happen. So Calia spent the first night camping away from the others, curled up along the trees at a safe distance. On the second day when it was realized that their great elven hero had not returned, there was such a fuss about stragglers wandering off that no one would accept Calia sleeping away from the group. Just to appease their worries, she slept in the center camp joining the woman that had shared her canteen – Ms Geraldine – and then… well. She was trapped. Part of this traveling refugee band officially.
Not as their leader, though! Calia took great care about how she went about her means of help. Fostering good conversations with the village elders, for she wasn’t completely a solitary little guttersnipe. Calia did actually enjoy the company of others and had no issues at all with falling into an easy friendly chat. She passed her advice and observation on with ease so that others could take charge and keep credit. The elders were the ones in charge here, and Calia was naught more than a helpful little minx.
And in the process Calia had figured out… a small amount of things. Mostly that she missed her family and all of these people made that so much worse. The dark mean voice inside her empty chest loved to whisper that she was better off alone and that she hated being around them, but it wasn’t true. At least not in the way it kept twisting it. Calia had loved her previous life and she wished for it back, only the sad part was that it was never going to be that way again. She had to make a new life, she just didn’t know what it was going to look like.
Calia knew vengeance was her present, but her future was nothing but a big black void of unknowns.
Thankfully, the route to the Eastern Pass did not come with any more vicious demons. An incident with a wild boar had shaken things up, that one asshole that’d been mean to his wife occasionally tried to cause trouble here and there, but their journey had brought them to the entrance of the tunnels safely.
This particular pass used to be a well traveled, active route from Caeldalmor to the inner tunnels of the eastern mountains out towards all of the eastern kingdoms. The elven kingdom being one of many. Over the centuries it became less and less popular, sometimes due to tunnel decay or infestations of beastly monsters. A war or two between kingdoms over who owned tunnels. Illegal mining operations, smugglers, and more. Now only well seasoned merchants ever took this way, as it was far too easy to get lost in the labyrinth of tunnels.
Once the traveling party entered, there were quite a few rules given from the elders. To keep things quiet when they were in a tunnel itself, as well as making sure not to crash anything into the walls that were so fragile. Do not eat anything that glowed, unless you want a rough vomiting death. Never go down a passage that had a grisly face carved over the passage entrance, for that usually meant a monster lair was down that path.
Despite all these dangers, Calia found herself actively interested and a bit excited. For the first time in her life she was leaving Caeldalmor now to see things she’d never seen before.
There was an obvious bit of concern having been told quite at length the do’s and don’ts of entering that of an old tunnel that had last seen service in what? Maybe fifty years. If they were lucky. Add on that many of the souls that had gathered, were both naturally apprehensive to their streak of good fortune of coming this far with no more than a boar deciding it wanted to show how tough it was.
It was a bit quietly worrisome to think that they’d lost the proclaimed hero the first day, but she personally found that Calia appeared to be well equipped with assuring most of them –if not all- were perfectly fine. A silent thought in her own head suspecting that all that praise about the man gone missing may have been a cover. That Calia herself was the one who did everything and just didn’t want people praising her. But that seemed weird to heap such things on another.
Hence why she didn’t say anything about it.
She hung back now, watching as the first few carts had begun their methodical entrance into the gaping hole in the mountains and naturally gravitated towards well, the only seemingly capable person that was trained at all.
Calia.
Although she found the woman somewhat intimidating after that first day, there was muted awe present. Even now, “Do you know where this tunnel leads out too, Calia?” Isabelle asked, worrying her hands noticeably.
Calia was busy supervising without looking like she was actually supervising, taking up the very rear with Mercy and keeping a count of person and animals. Making sure wagons look okay and not like they were about to crack a wheel, and just in general keeping a wary eye behind them for any dangers that might follow.
The last thing she wanted was for something to happen with the eastern pass, the way the western’s collapsed. Whatever happened there would not be repeated.
“I haven’t a clue,” answered Calia truthfully, but followed it with a smile. “I’ve never left Caeldalmor before myself. A couple of the elders said they’d been through them before back when they used to be merchants, hopefully not much has changed since then. There ought to be markers too on most tunnels, so we won’t be travelling completely blind.”
Of course, that is IF those markers are still intact. If important tunnels hadn’t collapsed. If they don’t get chased by demons. None of those things needed to be mentioned to Isabelle, however. Especially when it was pretty obvious to Calia the girl was nervous. Who wouldn’t be when your entire world had fallen apart and you were trekking off into a scary unknown.
“Would you like to ride Mercy through for a while?” she asked casually. “The poor girl gets nervous in tight spaces and I’m afraid I’ll crack my head on a stalactite. I’d rather walk it.”
It was shown on her face that practically broadcasted every and all thoughts like it was being blared across the plains. To hear that Calia hadn’t been outside of Caeldalmor or even through the tunnel, well… she had actually assumed the woman had. “You … h-haven’t? But you sound so knowledgeable.” Suppose that was what happened when you merely assumed instead of asking. Which maybe wasn’t the point here. It didn’t give her any warm fuzzy feelings to think that this strong woman that appeared like nothing ever fazed her, didn’t know what was beyond this tunnel outside of recanting tales from others.
While she knew the elders had been through at some point that wasn’t exactly new.
“How can we be sure we aren’t just walking into the mouth of another one of those damnable monsters?” Isabelle mostly just asked herself. Branching arms around herself in a private lackluster comfort. Kicking a stone while gaze wandered back to those milling into the dark space.
“I don’t know how to ride a horse and really, I don’t feel comfortable about it.” Isabelle considered Calia then even if she suspected the woman was trying to sound like she was being kind rather than just trying to keep her occupied. “I can’t help but envy you in this moment. You’re so calm. Collected and seem like not a single thing is even plucking at the back of your mind. If only you could bottle that courage, then well… we’d all probably be as confident as you. If not willing to fight things too.” She smiled, meaning this all as praise.
It was truly something to envy. How did someone manage to turn themselves into such a feat? It was so curious and vastly impressive. “Have you heard what the elves are like then?” Was she stalling? Most likely.
Why was Calia so surprised to hear that she appeared to be so calm, collected and confident? Or maybe it was the fact Isabelle was envious of this aura Calia put out there, unaware that the only reason Calia was any of those things at all was because she’d been broken into pieces. Shattered and betrayed and hurt to a point where the only way she could even function right now was to stomp her own feelings deep down where she couldn’t feel them. That wasn’t something to envy, it was honestly kind of pitiful and she wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
“I’m… not really those things,” she answered with a soft frown. Maybe she wasn’t so great at communicating, but she was honest even if it felt a little awkward in the moment. “What happened at the capitol was horrifying and I’m just trying my best not to think about it. Every time I do I can’t breathe, and I mostly just feel guilty I’m still alive when my family isn’t. I really don’t want to die, but I feel like I’m betraying them when I laugh.”
That was the simplified version, at least. Calia gave the girl a wry sort of smile.
“I envy you, because it might be scary needing to leave the kingdom, but you still get to laugh and flirt with handsome men and well… live. I’m not there yet.”
Calia wasn’t sure she’d ever get back to being that person again. That wasn’t Isabelle’s problem to bear, though. So Calia switched gears to focus on the girl’s future, because if she was envious of Calia’s courage, then the least Calia could do was help bolster her up so she was excited about it.
“I know the elven kingdom is built in a cliffside that overlooks the ocean. I’ve seen paintings of it. Everyone’s said the queen there is a kind woman with a gentle spirit, and that the people love music and art and architecture. They’ve had to create layers and layers of gardens along the cliffs and within the city itself because they’re cut off from the forests, and in the middle of their city there is a giant tree they’ve been cultivating since the city itself was born. I’ve also heard that elves are fantastic lovers, and I suspect you might have already given that a test, hm?”
By the gods, Calia didn’t actually want to know… although. Maybe she was a tiny bit curious if that egotistical demon lived up to all of his bragging.
Isabelle gave a twist of her lips. The second she was replied too with what could have been a humble intention to suggest that Calia was attempting to seem like she wasn’t such things. Apparently actions spoke a lot better than words. As one would know. Still, there came a soft intention to listen to the woman speak and then turn into a almost regretful press considering they had been a little careful not to talk extensively about the capitol. Hearing it had been destroyed was already quite the blow. After all, they’d all lived safely in the village for so long under the guiding rule of their royals for so long, that knowing they had been wiped out alongside the leading town; it was hard to think.
Hard to imagine.
And worse to hear Calia express that she was trying now mostly living in a shell of herself. Pressing away all the sort of emotions that she ought to have felt. Which as she expressed this, Isabelle shook her head. Not out of denial, just out of disbelief. She didn’t even… no she didn’t want to even imagine that sort of pressure on one’s chest.
Before looking at the woman suggesting there was envy towards her because she personally hadn’t been scarred like Calia. Left with memories that were hard to mill through to find peace or closure. At least not right now.
They were soon to be entering the cave as well but in a moment, she was appreciative that Calia had decided not to linger on the morose topic. Instead talking about what she knew of the elven kingdom itself. That their queen was genteel. There was a love for artistic things and how apparently they really did live in nature. Something speculated but never really known. Liable to say something in gentle awe till Calia was mentioning lovers and well, how slyly blunt she was.
Immediately, her face went bright red. Pressing hands to cheeks and giving Calia a look of pure horror. That deepened but, shyness turned into an almost fond remembering as a nod was given about the fantastic part.
Although she was not about to engage in that topic either. Just that she was certainly remiss to know the elven man had disappeared and she was merely left with bawdy memories and the sort of flushing that came from it. Stepping foot to foot, it was their turn to enter.
And she took a deep breath, “I hope there isn’t any rats in there.”
Calia found out all she needed and didn’t want to know with Isabelle’s red-faced nodding. So the demon bastard did in fact treat her well and give her a good time. The princess could take solace in that… only, this girl was such a sweet and genteel thing, clearly an innocent even if she had her own little wild streak, that it irritated Calia that Archimedes had chosen her of all the plenty saucy wenches out there! Leaving behind a poor girl in potential heartbreak just so he could sow his oats in whatever caught his fancy.
At least he was gone now. That heartbreak would only get worse the more time he spent with the girl, and Isabelle surely deserved better.
“Rats like fresh air and burrows. We’re not likely to see them once we get deep into the mountain,” she reassured the girl. Bats on the other hand would be a plenty, not to mention the other sorts of creatures that loved making their homes in the dark. Another tidbit of information that Calia was going to keep to herself.
Taking Mercy by the reigns and with a gentle tilt of her head for Isabelle to get to walking too, they joined the caravan of travelers for the first leg of their unground journey.
As far as tunnels went, if you’d seen one you’d basically seen most and the beginning of the eastern pass was no different. It was plenty wide enough for wagons to roll through plus some, with the occasional stone and wooden arches that helped braced the walls from caving in from the weight of the mountains themselves. Where the light still naturally touched, they’d be moss along the walls or small types of fungus. Beautiful old carvings from days past when things were originally built with a sense of style.
Eventually it grew to be quite bland. A lot of the same, same, same which made it abundantly clear how easy it would be for someone to take a wrong turn and then be completely lost. Without sun or stars to guide the way, it all blended together. Calia had explored a few caves of her own here and there, and found herself feeling more and more uncomfortable the farther into the mountainside they went. Discovering a new thing about herself in the hours it took to walk, that without evergreen trees and open sky that she felt even more disconnected than ever.
“Oh.” It was a good thing her face was already flushed because she was shortly embarrassed by not knowing that. “That’s good. I hate those things.” Clearing her throat with a light kneading of fingers over burning cheeks, yes even she was suddenly more relieved they were being funneled into the tunnel.
So attention would be newly entranced by that of well, everything! The walls, the braces, how it all came to work. The marveling of how just someone or plenty of someone’s cut through a tunnel through at all. Was it natural? Was it not?
Of course she kept plenty of this to herself. Just more in gentle amazement that humans could build such things, that even as they walked for a good while, the means of unease to realizing they were in the belly of the mountain had not really struck. Maybe that was a good thing. Eventually another girl had sauntered back to walk with them. Idly chatting about what sort of things they might see. All sort of commentary that was truly fascinating!
Eventually it had slipped towards the armoured woman, “So Calia,” Esther spoke with eyes all a glow, “How does a lady start wielding a sword and armour? Like said you came from the capitol, but we as the little ladies of the village are, we are just amazed at that. I thought a knight was to men only.”
“Esther,” Isabelle scolded but she was well, just as curious.
Calia was so busy trying to count time in her head, pondering how fast they could travel through the tunnels in the best case scenario, that she wasn’t much listening to the conversation of the girls. The elder had said it could take a few days if the fastest route was clear and they didn’t run into anything nasty. A few days without the sky felt like a lifetime. Could a person die if they went too long without the sun? Was all this dust and stone even safe to breathe for that long? These tunnels have existed for centuries, so obviously it was fine.
Then conversation seemed to turn in her direction, where it wasn’t so embarrassing to be acknowledged as a knight as it was the issue of trying to figure out how to answer the question without revealing too many personal details. Sending a faint bit of flush to her own features even as she was grinding her teeth. Technically Calia was not part of the Knight’s Guard being a princess. Even her brothers had not been part of the Guard even though they’d trained along with them.
“I guess it is uncommon for ladies to be weapon trained,” she admitted, formulating the best way to explain. “There were one or two women in the Royal Guard of the castle, though none seemed to be in the general guard. Some things in Caeldalmor are still a little old fashioned.”
The amount of times she’d argued with her father over just about everything. Her insisting on training with her brothers when she was small had been a lark for him, but when she didn’t drop it as she got older to pursue more traditional interests, there was one fight after another. Now she’d give anything to hear him getting all blustery and pissed off about her reckless endangerment of her own self.
“You don’t need a man’s big burly muscles to wield a weapon effectively. Just practice and lots of it. I always liked swords especially as it’s sort of like dancing? It’s graceful and beautiful, and you can knock someone on their ass if they’re being particularly snotty. And men sure love being snotty when you’re as tall as they are.”
“I’ve never been to the capitol,” Esther remarked as there was a sort of odd presence of interest that promptly was squashed down since said place of interest was no longer viable. “To think that they have even two women in anything of the sort, let along the royal guard,” the woman made a show of being particularly awed by it. One that was reflected in a more subdued favour by Isabelle.
“The most we did was haul feed to animals.” She decided to point out as the manly thing they had put themselves to work for. Otherwise it was cooking. Cleaning. Running the little barn shop. Then getting married to pop out some babies. Anything outside of that was just things they heard about but never really dreamed of.
So Calia was an anomaly in that case. Making the girls whisper shyly about how it was impressive she was while trying not to look like they were star struck either.
Still, she spoke and mentioned how one didn’t need such things in the way of manly muscles and well, Esther smirked. “I mean, when they got the big burly muscles, I ain’t complaining. Though you did give Angus a good beam to the beak,” Apparently they had all learnt how lacking of chivalry Angus had been. Willing to abandon Marsha for himself. It had gotten him certainly a murder full of obtrusive eyes that were the women folk.
Talking up all the gossip and sending him hateful glares whenever convenient. “True. But, I don’t know. It’s nice being all soft and sweet too.” Isabelle pointed out tentatively. “There’s something cute about being waited on and how eyes all light up when you even give them a bit of consideration. But of course, punching one out because he was being a rude soul seems just as fair.”
Esther and her shared a laugh before well, Esther was being herself. “So that must mean you’re the boss in those types of situations, Calia. Ready to throw men and ox alike because you are standing eye to eye with them.”
“You are tall. Adds to your intimidating presence.”
Calia curiously listened to the two women as they chatted back and forth about their own experiences. These weren’t new things for Calia to hear, since she’d always been far more comfortable sneaking off into various villages across the country compared to the nauseating conversation one would get trapped in with nobles of the court. Only in most situations she’d been either a casual eavesdropper (listening and not participating) or on the prowl for a little sultry misbehaving as, well. Calia liked the attention just as much as anyone else did!
And these two seemed to think she was all fist swinging, man tossing, bed bossing intimidation.
The princess immediately burst out into a loud, delighted laugh at the sheer bawdy nonsense of it. This was so much more fun than the sorts of conversations women had at court!
“I do come off as severe, don’t I?” she finally said once she had that laughter under control. “I like to be soft and sweet and pretty, if they’d only let me. When they’re brave enough to try, they’re just as often so aggressive and combative about it. Not even the fun kind of aggressive, just an entitled asshole! Unless they talk to me the right way, I’m not having any of it, no matter how handsome they are.”
That reply had her pausing for a brief second to wrinkle her nose and frown.
“I guess that does make me intimidating.”
Calia brushed it off, though. She was what she was, and menfolk were what they were. Not all of them were awful and she’d had her own fair share of fun encounters. For the time being other things were drawing her curiosity until it was finally strong enough for comment.
“Have either of you ever thought about just… doing what you wish to do?” she questioned, with all genuine wanting to know. “I mean, including certain responsibilities, I know there’s always those to consider. But if you wanted to be a sword master, you could do it. Or make flower baskets, or herd sheep. Marry a sweet man and make him watch the children while you run a tavern. What is stopping you?”
“You’re a bit of a stone peach,” Esther stated without any hesitation. “Sharp and you carry yourself strongly. Everyone can tell but it’s a good thing. It made all the younger women all starry eyed cause you just seem so self assured.” Before they were being told just how much Calia really did come off as intimidating.
Shortly giggling the two of them were, “They are probably aggressive cause you hold yourself so well.” Isabelle stated, “And that’s challenging. Sort of when ram’s headbutt another. They are trying to win the mate but in this case, you are the mate and the one with horns. That if they can defeat you, well,” She drifted off needing not to expand upon that any further.
It was probably really amusing to watch! Before the men were properly humiliated and shooed away.
Esther pointed out something on the wall that looked like the same sort of carving as they had been looking, but this one was chipped away. Till they were both offering their undivided attention to Calia when she started asking her own questions. Which of course, had the two women looking at another.
“I am or was training already to be the village healer. I know a lot about herbs and minerals and all that fun stuff. It’s just now comfortably finding someone to share that with who isn’t going to be upset when I have to travel.” Esther stated with full confidence. Assured of herself, “I don’t wanna actually wave an sword around, no offense to you Calia, but I like to be feminine. And useful in different ways which is healing sorts with the things that the earth gives us.” The woman suddenly glared, “Just well, finding said other half is more of a challenge. Which is why, when we get to the elven lands, I am going to find one of their medicine people and learn from them. And maybe a cute elven boy,” Elbowing Isabelle then with a knowing wink.
Brightening features once more, so she could stumble and fall over her mouth. Fumbling fingers into a dry wringing twist. “Honestly, if and when we can get all settled again, I think I would just be content to be a bar maid. You get to hear some pretty interesting stories and well… I might be a little bit romantic. Waiting for mister perfect. And then we fall in love and you know…” She trailed off so mortified to be saying it out loud. Especially when Esther was giggling unabashedly. Earning the other a light shove to the shoulder, “And you Calia? What are you going to do? Become a battle hero that slaughters demons and has stories rise up about your conquering of the monsters that set upon the lands?”
Calia wanted to argue that swinging a sword could be just as feminine, but that sort of thing was hard to explain without a demonstration and now certainly wasn’t the time for that. How she fought had a fluidity to it that wasn’t exactly the traditional fighting style of most Caeldalmor knights. It came directly from how she tended to use her magic, influenced it and shaped it into what it was now. A dance that she thought was graceful and beautiful.
There was also that inner huff and wish to fuss that she too could be feminine, Calia just wasn’t the sweet and gentle kind. Not bows and lace and giggles and coy looks. She was a soft breeze and a warm summer and quiet whispers. They weren’t meaning anything insulting by it, though, so there was no reason to be offended.
This universal topic of men to marry tickled her, though. At court women were discussing much the same, but usually came in the form of what young man had a good reputation and who had money and the nicest clothing. Sometimes there would be one that actually cared about more than what was on the surface and had opinions over a sense of humor, or a love of children. Calia herself had never actually thought about a man in long-term plans, only in short term situations. Even for ones she had a particular liking to, eventually she’d have to tell her secrets and that would never do.
“I don’t know about all of that,” she laughed softly at all the grandeur of demon slayer and heroism. “I wanted to be a Knight of Caeldalmor, to teach and train others. Fighting battles and slaying monsters never really came to mind.”
The irony in having all of that magic and all of her skill, for Calia to have no ambition of her own whatsoever. She’d been genuinely happy with her life and where it was leading, even when she had to fight her own parents about allowing her to do it. There’d been all the time in the world. Up until it was all just snatched away.
“For now I guess now it’s going to be fighting battles,” she said with a little bit of dark humor in her smile. “Then I don’t know. Maybe I’ll start my own brothel and employ nothing but handsome men from all the mountain lands. I always thought someone ought to!”
They shared another look with another and giggled when Calia expressed she wasn’t sure she was the sort of all heroics and a legend to be told one day. Well actions and people seeing them had a way of blowing up into something more. It might not even be in her choice to when people started whispering about a woman going through the lands slaying demons and fighting back for the fall Caeldalmor. After all, she ought to have known how one story could blow up considering she had told her own tale not too long ago. Writing verbally down a tale that had already spread eagerly through that of the villagers and would likely be spoken to the elves next.
With embellishments, of course.
Yet they all shared a moment that seemed peaceful as they spoke about their own desires. And well when they gave Calia the same option, there was a proper sense of horror that spawned on Isabelle’s face. Once more ducking behind hands and nearly matching the same colour as her hair.
“Wow,” Esther was taking a moment to digest that and, “Sounds… nice?” It was clear that there was obviously some thought about that in which wasn’t shared. “Just let us know where it is so we can you know, stay away from it.” Harlots in village settings were usually almost the same level as thieves. Dirty little tramps that went around throwing open their own gates with no care. But men? “Make sure you have some good herbs on hand to avoid pregnancy.”
There it was, that moment Calia inevitably ran into where she remembered she was not quite on the same page as everyone else. Realizing quickly she’d made a blunder by being too cavalier with her thoughts while in the presence of polite company. Only in this instance, she’d always felt the treatment of whores and harlots was such an unfair double standard. Men could do whatever they pleased, from sleeping around to literally claiming they owned the women in their lives, but a woman was never supposed to do such things, and damn her to the realm of demons if she got paid for it fairly.
Old fashioned rules, trapping everyone into boxes.
“That was a jest,” she course corrected, without having to lie as it was simply a joke that Calia would run a whore house full of men! She absolutely wished they existed, but she didn’t have the patience to deal with running much of anything let alone wrangling a bunch of horny men. That sounded like a nightmare!
Maybe Calia really was meant to be a feral old hag in the woods.
“I’m sure there will be lots of interesting opportunities in the elven kingdom, regardless. New peoples and new ideas. Dramatic romances and everything in between.”
Such a simple comment was so powerful. It was impressive really how the pair of them suddenly had a new light of Calia in which they were obviously as different as night and day. To where moments before there was an ease to conversation because no one really knew each other’s levels of thoughts where it came to that of matters that were likely so looked down upon in a small village that to have it changed so drastically took effort. Time and personal desire!
They shuffled along. And shortly offering an awkward laugh when Calia attempted to state her commentary was a jest.
Likely it could have been but Isabelle and Esther were taking their time minding through the means of it. Allowing a sense of silence to settle between them all a moment. “Hmm, it sounds like it will be really different from what we are used too.” Esther made the effort as being the one who was a little more forward than Isabelle. “It will be curious too, since well, living in a village makes one very sheltered. So to go beyond our limits is one thing but to a whole other nation where they are so drastically different. It will be interesting. Alarming. Though I do hope there is no demons there.”
Calia reached for Mercy’s muzzle, giving the chestnut mare a soft affectionate petting while that awkward silence took over. Wishing she’d hadn’t experienced ones like it before, but well, it was pretty par for the course when you didn’t quite fit in with… anyone. Frustrating too, because it’s not as if Calia didn’t share the same kinds of hopes and dreams and interests as everyone else. The very same human desires rolling around in her stupid head. The trouble only came in connecting directly to someone, when she dared to open even a crack of her outer shell. Only her family had ever been close to her!
They only knew a shadow, though.
Alright, Calia couldn’t deny that. Chances were, her family wouldn’t be so accepting if they knew the entire truth of Calia either. She took in a deep breath and let it out slow. Simply building up that little internal wall of hers, where people were kept at a safe distance. It didn’t matter what people thought about her anymore. Honestly, what was keeping her tethered to anything?
It’d be easier if everyone was dead.
Okay, inner voice, what if Calia DID kill everyone? It was one thing being forced to by a parasite against her will, but what if it were her own choice and she leaned into mayhem! Got her magic back or made a new deal with a demon? Derrick’s summoning of a hoard was unimaginative and clearly left an unfinished job behind. It was so easy to picture all the grand and spectacular ways she could decimate an entire countryside and murder lots of people with flare and efficiency. What then, hmn?
Calia’s inner voice didn’t respond to that one and fuck if she knew what that meant. Aside from the fact that she’d lost her damn mind and didn’t have a demon inside to blame it on.
She’d almost missed Ester’s attempt to speak past all the awkwardness.
Almost even said it was herself they needed to worry about.
“It’ll be okay,” she said instead. “People have had to make new beginnings since the dawn of time. It’s your choice of what you do and how you live, so just make good choices.”
The irony.
“I suppose if you wanna just make it simple like that. Then yeah, good choices.” Esther nodded and they lulled back into that silence that now just felt weird. So weird that even minor scratching of an elbow or a gentle clearing of throat, they just walked.
Letting the tunnel consume them all into a lull that eventually had to feel normal. Considering how long this apparently went on. And it went on!
Eventually it had gone on so damn long that one couldn’t tell with the means of lit torches or idle murmurs of others traveling along if it had been a few minutes, an hour or days. “How long is this tunnel?” Isabelle finally asked slightly exhausted with the fact they were now officially deep in the belly of this great mountain.
“Long enough that we’ll be camping in here.” Esther ever helpfully stated, “You know, when the elders talked about this thing, they always made it seem a lot shorter than it was.”
What Calia didn’t understand was why they continued to walk with her when they could have joined any of the dozens of other people. Literally anyone else. The other young women, or the sweet older ladies, or any of the young menfolk that might’ve loved getting to chat with pretty girls and feel protective as they chattered on about their fears and hopes. Instead they were torturing Calia for hours upon hours within this closed in space. No where for her to run. Trapped trying to keep this harmless, neutral expression on her face so she wouldn’t reveal she was actually just a grouchy hateful witch!
She’d let that stupid demon manipulate her into being the better person again. Damn Archimedes right back to hell where he belonged! Here was that evidence that Calia wasn’t a good person, as right now she was thinking about shoving villagers into bottomless pits just so she wouldn’t have to be so uncomfortable.
“When this passage ends, it’s supposed to open up into a huge cavern. Your elder said it’s where caravans would camp for the night before choosing their direction. A mountain version of a crossroads,” she told them, and then inwardly sighed. Calia should’ve told them to go ask someone else! Pondering quickly some new idea.
“…one of them has a time piece, else we’d lose all track of time down here. You could both go ask what time of day it is now and they’d be able to tell you how much longer it’ll take?”
They both looked to her unanimously when it seemed that Calia was about to add some knowledge to Esther’s verbal wonderment. In which was helpful but it didn’t seem to be an immediate comfort either. Hearing that they would in fact being staying inside the bowels of the mountain, was something a little too spooky. Especially since they had been avidly warned that some tunnels could be nests to monsters or frightening animals.
Although what would be worse. Them or demons?
Just that she expressed someone was carrying a timepiece and in turn, was making a mention that they could wander away to check in.
One would have to be pretty daft not to realize that Calia was making a subtle attempt to shooing them away. Earning another look between Esther and her. Silently speaking with gaze alone till, “Good point.” Esther seemed to take the agreement in that. Reaching out to take Isabelle’s hand with a bit of a look back at Calia that might have said she knew what the other woman was doing. “We’ll go check in. You could probably ride in one of the carts too if you feel tired Isabelle.”
If Calia wanted them to go, they would. No sense in trying to sweeten her up if she was that uncomfortable with them.
Fantastic. Calia could feel that chiding, disapproving look all the way down to her bones. She’d thought it had been kind and subtle enough to redirect them elsewhere, but obviously Calia didn’t have the talent for putting people at ease or being a bundle of cheery sunshine. If she ever had the skill, it was lost along with her magic and ability to hold her temper. The friendly smile she tried to give them probably came across as a wolf baring it’s teeth too. Waiting until they were wandered off before she turned all of her attention to bunting her forehead against Mercy and letting out a slow sigh.
Why this even bothered Calia at all was a mystery. Perhaps because there was nothing for her to hide behind, there was just Calia at her worst for the world to see. Rude and rotten and spoiled Princess Calia, who didn’t ask for any of this and just wanted to live her damn life.
Nothing to chime in with now, Inner Voice? Perfect.
…besides, Ester was rude herself. As if wearing protective armor and knowing how to wield a sword somehow made Calia less feminine. No offence to you, Calia. ALL offence to Calia! No one told a man he was less masculine because he wore kilts and baked bread!
These thoughts and more spun circles in her head, until it all became a tangled mess of morose brooding. With nowhere to go and nothing to look at besides brown and grey stone of the cave walls, all Calia had was her inner world. And that inner world was becoming darker and more grim by the day.
As she’d promised, though, their traveling caravan of walkers, animals, and wagons finally came across something different. First hinted at by a blast of cold, frosty air, until the tunnel opened up into this huge underground grotto. Where a bridge took them across a pool of crystal clear ice water, to a space that in it’s popular day must have once been a lively city as large as Caeldalmor’s capitol. Old abandoned buildings where Inns would host weary wayfarers, or business for people who made a living off those that used this central hub to get elsewhere in the mountains. High up above there had to be breaks in the mountain stone, where natural skylights let in sun and snow into the open grotto. Now it was so rarely used, this ancient grotto was abandoned.
Calia had never in her life been so happy to see sunlight and breathe fresh air, that for the moment in her awe of such a place with it’s ice crystal pillars and strange water that really ought to have been covered in a layer of glacier ice she’d forgotten to be miserable.
It was amazing how much a scenery change could suddenly light up an entire caravan of runaway refugees! For in mere seconds after they all had gotten most of their oohing and awing out of the way; they were promptly getting to work. Finding the best place where they could get settled. With younger souls naturally gravitating towards that of the old buildings to check out their state of functionality. It wouldn’t do any of them to throw caution to the wind and simply have the building fall in on them with one door opening!
Leaving the elders to start directing where those of wagon varieties ought to go. Muttering commentary between that was somewhat useful depending on who you asked. But everyone seemed to be in the same appreciation of natural light and fresh air in the ruins of an old stopping point.
No one would have likely believed this place existed at all if they had simply been told about it. Shooing it off as tall tales that the old just nattered about while making the said story grander and grander till it was a fish tale rather than fact.
It truly did appear to be quite the nice little niche of safety and relief.
Calia ought to have been helping. But now that they were safely out of Caeldalmor and within the old trade hub, they were well away from the truly horrific dangers. These people did not need her hovering and telling them how to do things they already knew.
Besides, this place was legitimately amazing.
With Mercy by the reigns, Calia made a slow walkabout, admiring with fascinated curiosity the very structure of the place. The vast majority of the cavern walls were the natural mountain rock or glacier ice, though there were many places where it had been reinforced with gorgeous stone architecture that seemed to be a blended style of old world elven and gnome, with a few faeish and human influences here and there. She walked her way all the way down to the bank of the cave stream, where the water was so still it didn’t seem like it was moving at all, but ever so often she could catch the darting of a fish zipping by.
She knelt down to dip her hand in the water, bringing a palmful up to her nose for a sniff and then a testing taste. Pure clean mountain water. Likely the same that came pouring down waterfalls and cliffsides. Taking the moment to wait as Mercy drank her fill, Calia marveled that the water wasn’t as cold as she’d expect, or at least with a layer of ice. Likely there was a heat source within the mountain somewhere, or the cavern was insulated from the outer elements just enough that it didn’t freeze.
When Mercy was satisfied, Calia followed the water upstream… downstream? In her chosen direction until it inevitably came to a large cave pool, where the crystal clear water went from perfectly transparent to slowly growing dimmer and dimmer into this fantastic dark, midnight blue where it surely went deep. If there were little fish in the clear waters, there could be all kinds of things in such a deep pool. It could go down for miles or feed into any of the mountain rivers.
Leaving the pool, she wandered farther still until she could no longer hear the bustle of the villagers making up a camp for the night. Until she reached a place where snow was gently falling down from one of the natural openings in this odd cavern. Tilting face upwards towards clouded sky, where it might not have been toasty warm sunshine, but it was still light. Where she closed her eyes and for the moment just breathed fresh, frosty air and was glad that for a moment she didn’t feel so disconnected.
It was as though they had wandered into that of Pandora’s box. For what seemed to be so unassuming on the outside, was no more than a lying in wait mimic. With plenty of new bodies having come to a place that had been so unused for so long; it was quite the delectable twist of fate. For surely one may have wondered just why such a tunnel had stopped being used at all.
Traders didn’t just stop needing things.
People just didn’t travel any longer.
And buildings didn’t stay empty because humans no longer dwelled in them.
Often times, other things moved in.
The villagers were seemingly unaware that they may have entered into a new bit of trouble till well, the means of prepping a communal meal drew the attention that there were some absent bodies. The ones that had gone into the buildings themselves to find potential places to sleep or old goodies that would be worth sharing around the bonfire.
Calia had every intention of staying away from the villagers and keeping herself to the quiet outskirts on her own. Once upon a time she could go off and visit whatever little village she wanted, have a delightful night of whatever nonsense she got into, then go home to her blissful peace. Avoid all human interaction for a day or two and be pleasant in her own company. One could like people and not want to be around them all the time!
This mountain was offering her a glimpse into a different sort of life, as well. Calia missed the forest of fir trees and doubted she could go long without running the meadows with a good horse… but there was something so comforting about this open mountain grotto. The tunnels made her feel trapped and claustrophobic, without any means of easy escape. This place, though, with it’s giant stone walls and pillars of ice, it’s open skylights with icy fresh air and a window to the sky? This felt like a home she could love. Finally understanding why the original Caeldalmor castle was built right into the mountain itself.
If only she were alone, she thought. Sighing deeply as she heard stop footsteps approaching.
“Have you seen Angus wandering around here? He and some others haven’t returned to camp.” It was Marsha, looking far more concerned than Calia felt the man deserved after he tried to abandon his own wife to save himself. Apparently that thought must’ve appeared plain as day on Calia’s face because the woman suddenly looked flushed in the face and defensive. “He is still my husband…”
Calia wiped that look off her face quick and nodded.
“I’ll look around, there’s enough old buildings here I’m sure he’s just exploring around,” she answered, thinking to herself it was more likely he was hiding somewhere with a stolen jug of ale. Or peeing on buildings to mark his territory. Angus seemed like the type.
Curious though, that others were also still snooping about. While Calia didn’t think the area was dangerous per se, old buildings didn’t exactly stand up to time without maintenance. Someone could easily fall through floor boards or get stuck somewhere. So Calia took Mercy along with her back towards camp, doing a slow walk as she counted heads and faces to get an idea how many to look out for. Deciding to leave her gentle chestnut friend with an elder couple so she’d not have to worry about the mare while she did a bit of her own exploring.
Starting first with a group of the old buildings that made up the ancient travel town, not so upset about this means of searching for even Calia had her own curiosity about learning what this place used to be.
All appeared to be as it was, save for a few less bodies that may have just spent their time looking around. Merely getting lost in awe and wonder to realize that it would have been in their better interest to have come back to avoid the means of fitting worry.
Another offered to go look for where the other’s had originally gone, save now, they also seemed to have disappeared. Leaving only a handful left of the elder villagers. Looking curiously around with a rising discomfort nestling at the back of their necks. A cold uncomfortable chill as if something was watching nearby.
The more people Calia realized was missing from camp, the more antsy Calia became. Surely no one had wandered off and done something foolish. The villagers weren’t stupid, even the younger generations knew well enough to be careful in caves! This place might be interesting and awe inspiring, but surely it hadn’t overridden people’s sense to be wary of potential dangers!
As she started her searching, she did at least come across one or two people of whomst she promptly sent back to camp with a sharp warning that they were worrying the others with their wandering. Soon enough the sun was going to go down and all that beautiful natural sunlight was going to disappear to make even a safe space within the grotto troublesome to be walking around in.
However, Calia didn’t draw a weapon even when she approached the abandoned buildings. Picking the closest of which to carefully rise up the stairs and take a look inside. An old tavern and inn from the looks of it, with footsteps pressed along decades of dust and dirt. A natural first place for anyone to explore, hoping they’d find abandoned liquor most likely, or even pickled goods hiding away in the empty kitchen. Musty old mattresses for a private place to fool around in was also a possibility.
“Is there anyone screwing around in here?” she called out, not masking the annoyance in her voice. “It’s going to be dark soon, all need to return to camp. They’re worried.”
Even for that asshole Angus, Calia supposed. There must’ve been something worthwhile about him, as Calia wouldn’t give the time of day to anyone that claimed to love her and then tried to throw her to demons as they escaped. Hell and damnation, she was already plotting all the ways she was going to make Derrick suffer and that wasn’t nearly as personal of a betrayal. That was only a deluded monster doing what power mad mongrels did!
“Calia?” Someone called back. Knowing her name and eventually a head poked around that of a corner from the questionable state of upstairs portion of the place, before a slow sigh exhaled. “What are you doing here?” Esther asked, helping the rest of her body to come standing out at the top of the stairs. Looking down the way and, “There’s no drink here if you are looking. Think some of the other’s came already and found the means of it. If there was anything.”
Scratching at her neck, she seemed not to register the means of having been called at that it was going to be dark soon. “Well since you’re here, maybe you can help me find Isabel. She came inside here a bit ago and I’ve just finished checking all upstairs but she’s not present.”
Calia no longer had the patience for being gentle and with a tiny smidge of ire in the back of her mind for Esther anyway, the woman ended up receiving the full brunt of Calia’s disapproving frown. Had she placed her hands on her hips and started a lecture, she likely would’ve been the spitting image of her King Father, albeit with dark hair and feminine curves. Curves no one could see because she wore armor like a man, apparently!
“Everyone is scattering around like a bunch of headless chickens at this rate,” came Calia’s reply and damn it all, it those hands didn’t end up landing on her hips anyway. “Go back to the camp. If you see anyone on your return, make sure they go back with you. No one should be wandering around by themselves.”
And because she knew the likelihood of a young woman sneaking off alone wasn’t very high, Ester was getting a second examining look from her perch down there at the bottom of the stairs. Isabelle might not be up there, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a handsome man up there having taken all opportunity and advantage of a clandestine romp. Calia surely wouldn’t have resisted such a thing herself if given the opportunity.
“…I’ll look for her. Just get back to camp quickly, it’ll be dark soon.”
There was a flat look back when the words of how she was practically being reprimanded like a child for naturally exploring. As if no one else had and suddenly they’d all regressed twenty some years. Toddling around with thumbs in their mouths and heads too wobbly to sit on their shoulders correctly. Shortly turning that deadpan stare into one of glaring irritation.
“Because you didn’t wander off either.” Esther replied so effortlessly and actually put her hands on her hips. Shooting dark daggers at madam hoity toity from the city. “Sounds like your own advice has got to be bitter. But whatever,” Flipping a hand back in that sort of dismissive gesture, Esther stepped down the stairs cautiously. Avoiding any potential spot that had been previously noted as week, btu stepped around Calia to check the main floor. Evidently she could be just as stubborn, needing not a lick of help finding the friend anyways.
You little shit, thought Calia. Thought, not said. A hot temper she might’ve had, but at least Calia had the sense to know whom to direct it at and when. Calia could mouth off to a demon all she pleased, or to another who had dared to attack her first in one way or another. It wasn’t something she was going to direct at a woman who had been displaced by monsters and now in a situation that was full of frightening unknowns. Especially if her friend was not where she was meant to be.
Calia might’ve been heartless now but she wasn’t without empathy.
“Bitter as I am, I also can defend myself should yeti have decided this grotto is their home. Cave trolls. Smugglers.” Calia deemed to point out, watching as the woman blatantly disregarded her instructions to go searching around. She almost just left her to it, stepping up a couple of the stairs just to see if there was a secret lover hiding away up there… only to pause with an inward sigh to lean on the railing and glare down at the girl.
“Don’t take it as an offence. Elders at the camp are concerned because people aren’t returning where they should. I’m a stranger, so it won’t matter much if I take a tumble down a frozen ravine looking for stragglers. But they’ll miss one of their own. Go back to the camp.”
An eye appeared over her shoulder as she intended to make her way towards the part of the tavern that likely would have acted as like a kitchen of some sort. Making sure that the upper class soldier girl got a full view that she was being still glared at even if she was talking at her. Slightly narrowing then, and biting on the tip of her tongue then. Because if she recalled, wasn’t it that of the elven fellow that had disappeared in which had did much of the defending and protecting of the townsfolk. And wasn’t it her that had come back to preach and praise such efforts but now was prattling on about how she could defend herself.
Esther may not have said it, but it might have been written on her face.
“Oh I take it as an offense.” She stated instead, “And while I be appreciating the elder’s concern, I ain’t about to toddle off with my hands in the air like some gaily excited child missing that of her friend.” The woman started walking to her direction but was apparently cheeky enough to, “Stranger that seems like she doesn’t want anyone to be near her but is still tagging along anyways. Are all capitol dwellers so hot and cold?” She asked but it was clear it was not something needing an answer.
“If you’re so concerned, you go back. I’m finding Isabelle since she’s a friend and I ain’t leaving her behind.”
It seemed without her more gentle and kind friend, Esther had no issues with letting her disdain and dismissal show. Almost at a level that gave Calia pause in wonderment about why exactly she deserved this kind of treatment. She’d never been actively rude to them – maybe curt and forceful when she was ushering people out of the village. Calia could understand that she’d made a bad impression with a saucy joke that they didn’t find funny, painting herself as a defender of whores. But even in those awkward moments, Calia had remained polite.
Was she meant to giggle and fawn and gossip? Be a little bundle of bright cheery sunshine, chat everyone up full of false compliments and grand stories? Did she not already do enough trying to make sure that everyone was safe and that they knew she wasn’t a threat or a burden to them?
Calia didn’t need everyone to like her, but that didn’t make it any less hurtful to find that she as herself was not enough.
Still, if Esther needed a punching bag because she couldn’t get her anger and frustration out at the real problems, well… Calia could be her villain. Maybe she did deserve it after all, as they would not be there if it weren’t for her own magic that helped unleash horrors into the kingdom.
“Seeing as everyone in the capitol is dead now, doesn’t matter much if they’re hot or cold anymore,” she shot back. “I’ll have to be a menace in their honor.”
She did let out a frustrated huff, though, lingering there on the stairs.
“If you’re going to be a pain in the ass, then we’ll look together. No one should be by themselves until we get everyone sorted out. Now, is it really abandoned up there or am I going to find a muscled farm boy hastily throwing his clothes back on?”
Esther didn’t reply to the whole reply to the hot and cold part, seeing as she hadn’t been looking for an answer anyways! Trying to rack her brain to just where the hell Isabelle would have gone. They’d been together checking out a different building till it was obvious that more spiders had taken up residence in there than they wanted to deal with; they had come in here.
Just well, she heard Isabelle say something and her footsteps leading away. Only now, she didn’t know where those footsteps had gone.
However in a manner of seconds, her glare was back at Calia. Shooting now a personal glare about how brazen she could be. Offering a middle finger up to show just how much she actually didn’t like the moody woman. “I’m fucking looking for Isabelle! I get you may not understand the meaning of friendship and its importance, but honestly go find the nearest demon horn and find yourself impaled upon it. I’m busy trying to actually find someone that matters to me and I don’t need you or your hoity toity better than thou art frosty ass attitude. So if you are going to made rude ass comments, go the fuck away. Otherwise, shut up.” She was looking like she was about to turn around and clamp her hands around Calia’s neck.
Even if it wouldn’t work.
Calia, in all of her maturity, gave double middle fingers right back.
“I forgot that when fleeing for your life after seeing everything and everyone you loved destroyed, one is meant to be a demure and cowed little lady of sunshine. I am SO sorry that me trying to keep you alive is more important than trying to be your friend.”
“Go. Back. To. Camp.” she ordered, as blunt as expected. But that was all that Calia had left to give, because if she stayed any longer and argued with the girl it was only going to get meaner. Knowing it was a fault in herself to find those painful truths and needle them. Twist them, until she was the victor and the person on the other end was left regretting that they’d ever met Calia at all.
So she didn’t wait to shoo Esther out the building, or to tag along on her heels to watch all the trouble she got into. Instead stomping her way up the stairs to make a quick investigation herself of the upper stairs. Fully expecting to find some man crawling out a window, or even just nothing at all besides disturbed empty rooms. Esther did seem to care enough about Isabelle that she’d be telling the truth about searching for the girl.
Of course, now Calia was hoping the poor thing wasn’t charmed by some other slut of a man! What did she even know about these people anyway!
They were liable to start getting into a fist fight with how this woman kept trying to boss her around. “Just who the hell do you think you are! The Queen of Caeldaelmor?” Spitting back because honestly fuck her. She didn’t get to tell her what to do and act like she was doing anyone any sort of service. She was going to find Isabelle and that didn’t need this snotty hag anyways.
Honestly, she was liable to mean as well because at this point one could start pointing out that it was awfully convenient for someone how she acted like she was some grand soldier but was entirely alone without an retinue. She was apparently the only soldier woman standing and well, what did that say!
Thankfully madam full of herself went along. Getting another flipped finger in her direction, as she personally turned and made her way into the kitchen portion. Hearing the steps upstairs and hoping that her big fat ego made her fall through the floor. Only to get stuck with her head being the only thing unable to fit through!
The portion in which she suspected was supposed to be a kitchen, was well, more of a room. With a large hole in the center of it. Rotted out seemingly and well, could Isabelle have fallen down it? It could have happened and she was intending to look down into it carefully.
Till there was a peek and then… something moved beneath the floor only to shoot out and grab hold. Tugging her down promptly where nothing but silence remained.
Queen of Caeldalmor! Esther was likely to faint dead away if the knew the truth. That was one thing Calia was never going claim. Let Caeldalmor go back to the days of warring clans if it must. To the times before her father, and her grandfather, perhaps even farther than that. When places like this were still bustling and active because there was no united crown to help organize farmland and centralize a place of living that was sustainable all on it’s own. Back to a day where tribes had to keep moving through the different mountain valleys in search of foraged food and hunting.
Let the world be wild again. Back to nature, she thought darkly. Calia hadn’t wanted to be here helping at all, she could have still been chasing down her own stolen heart and not getting yelled at by self righteous village girls!
Yet, there she was. Searching the rooms of the upper floor for signs of missing villagers. Cursing all sorts of phrases that weren’t meant for gentle ears.
No sign of folks using the old broken beds for a romp, though. No one hiding in closets and making a shimmy out a window.
Curiously, no sounds of Esther shambling around downstairs either. Maybe the woman actually listened and went back to camp!
Fat chance.
Once Calia cleared that top floor, she made her way back down the stairs, half expecting Esther to continue more of her insults. Fully prepared to sling back something equally as scathing, and finding the Inn eerily quiet. She could see in the dust where feet had wandered, not that it helped her much when they were wandering in every which direction.
“Esther,” she called out just in case. Tilting her head as she listened and feeling… not quite right. Eerie even. Damn, she didn’t like the girl, but she didn’t want something to happen to her either!
If houses could whistle to accent the means of decrepit silence, this very place just might have sang a merry little tune. For where there could have been a verbal and physical scuffle of bodies, one party of that equation had gone to deathly quiets. Not a peep, an insult or a scoffing snotty sound rolling out of throat because how dare this stranger speak at all in her direction.
Lingering in the quiet, all good and prolonged.
Waiting in efforts that were best left without description till something giggled.
Then whispered.
Too low to make any sense but there no less. Any sane person would leave but, it was as though it knew the one within, wasn’t sane.
“Ah hell,” Calia whispered under her breath, freezing there in the middle of the great room like a deer that had been caught under firelight in the night. Were she a creature covered in fur, no doubt she’d be all hackles and prickly, but she was a human with skin. Now getting a wary shiver up her spine and slowly resting one hand on the hilt of her dagger.
Before Calia had feared nothing, now she had a new fear of possession, and she was in no mood to add even more things to be afraid of on top of it! Here in this foreign place, where she knew nothing about it’s history and what lied within it, there were far too many unknowns than she was comfortable with.
Now she was praying that Esther had a wicked witch streak. She might actually respect the girl for that.
“Come out, then. I am not here to play,” she warned… what she hope was the girl. Any human, really. Already taking soft, slow steps to continue looking around. Not about to be intimidated out either.
Calia was insane after all.
The giggles peaked. The whispering growing to low murmurs of hissing slurs. Nothing intelligible but succinct in a strange way. Melodious with a soothing purr. Unbothered to the means of anything cursing them out considering had this been a while before, perhaps it would have been worried.
However, a meal or many had already come through here. Plenty to save an empty belly from being ever so starved.
“Calia,” A voice spoke though hollow in means, it beckoned at the woman. “If you’re not here to play, then why are you here at all.” It was Isabelle’s voice, turning into a snicker.
“Because, she thinks she’s better than everyone.” Esther scoffed then. “Tells everyone what to do but acts so high and mighty.”
The whispers rose again into chatter. Nonsensical chatter. “Go. To. The. Camp.” Someone else’s voice repeated her own words, “We have no use for one that has no heart.”
“No heart. No heart. No heeearrt… noheartnoheartnoheartnoheart!
Don’t be haunted, don’t be haunted, don’t be haunted.
That frenzied thought was her own, at least, coming with the sinking, twisting churl of her stomach to hear the voices of Esther and then Isabelle, because there could be no good and happy explanation for it. They were likely already dead with a number of other missing villagers. Adding on to this sudden wave of guilt, that she ought to have… done what? Ordered everyone to stay at the camp, as this loud bossy nobody that no one knew or trusted? Esther made it pretty clear that Calia wasn’t anything more than a cold stranger that wasn’t particularly welcomed.
Whatever this new problem was, it could possibly see all the way through Calia enough to know she wasn’t whole. Unless the girls had decided Calia was their unfinished business, it couldn’t be ghosts or spirits. Not exactly filling Calia with any sort of confidence, as what the hell could be lurking in this old place for so long with just cave fish and the occasional traveler to sustain it!
“Guess I better get out of here, then,” she deemed to reply, with a voice as calm and steely as always even despite the eerie chill she felt. Maybe the smarter move would be to run out and promptly make sure no one else went wandering. Only, Calia couldn’t bring herself to go without searching for bodies – living or dead. Not wanting to risk walking off when there was even the tiniest chance.
So she shifted farther into the empty tavern, taking a peek under tables and then further still behind the bar. Edging towards the door that led to the back.
“No heaaaart…” it hissed melodious, teeheeing about it again like the very knowledge that someone who was here at all could be missing something so vital. Although for her to be so stone cold in that of the center where humans and mortals alike tended to bleed their emotions, perhaps she too was just another servant to the dark.
Spurring wonder, spurring Isabelle’s voice to speak. “Isn’t it strange? She came to the village and stayed… then came back to us to praise. To praise another but suddenly that one is gone. Do you think—” her voice trailed off. Something heavy moved around inside the hole of the tavern.
Esther spoke, “That she is really one of the demons as well? Luring us all here. Oh I think that could be it.”
Some whispers spluttered again. Some sobbing, some giggling. All speaking in a tangent of utter nonsense. Hissing and buzzing like an angry swarm of locusts upon fields so ripe to suddenly die out when the sound of steps approached the door closer to the gaping hole. “All food for fodder. Foddeeeeer. Yes, that seems right. Yes, yes… yeeeesssss…” Someone spoke before twisting into a sound harrumph, “No use for one who has no vital organ. Can’t feed on dead. Be gone, bring another instead.”
They may as well sing a little song and do a little dance about her missing heart. Make an entire ballad of the Heartless Princess of the Mountains. The cruel witch that unleashed demons into her own kingdom and then spread chaos every where she went. Finding her stoic features twisting up into a concerned frown as the voices continued on, spilling secrets they shouldn’t be able to know. Almost afraid that they could read her own thoughts just as easily as they could read her body.
Knowing just enough truth to turn things to paint her as the monster.
Maybe she was.
“If I were a demon, you could bet that I wouldn’t waste my time killing villagers…” stated Calia. Following those voices through the threshold into the kitchen proper where she promptly stopped. First bewildered and confused, with eyes going blinking and wide.
What the fuck was that.
Calia wasn’t about to go creeping towards some weird hole in the floor, reaching instead towards some old tin mug covered in dust and spider webs. Chucking it down into the hole just to see what’d happen first.
Her joke about killing villagers must have been quite the hilarious little reply, for it got a round of snorts and guffaws as though she had been standing on stage before a crowd. Merely missing the hoots and hollars for an encore. Only for it all to go suddenly silent when that threshold was crossed.
For feet to step beyond and something unholy beneath the boards had decided that it was now not so pleased she had decidedly come closer. The dark looming deep beneath that cracked space, began to writhe like a thousand different bodies only to scurry away. Slithering and crawling all at the same time, before thick worm like appendages began to slip through the cracks of the floor.
One… three… ten… fifty! The floor was shortly starting to crawl like a living rug. Twisted in dark red, splattering across the planks of wood.
“Leave us be… we do not want you. We’ve already taken what came and was of use… leave…”
“Leave us,” Isabelle whimpered.
“Go away,” Esther hissed.
“Aha… what the actual fuck…!” The nervous choke of a laugh and startled exclamation was followed by Calia jerking herself and stumbling backwards until her back hit a rickety old shelf full of metal pans and caused a clatter of tin and copper. A whole slew of other curses went through her head too as she scrambled several more frantic steps out of the kitchen into the tavern great room.
Fuck this, fuck this, crazy, wrigglie weird shit…! Demons came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but they were simple horrors! A giant stupid ogre, or a chiseled red himbo with giant horns. Winged imps, jeweled beetles, creepy crows, assholes with elf ears and lost accents! Monsters had shapes that made sense, this did not make sense, this was a nightmare Calia wanted nothing to do with. She said she wasn’t a hero. This was not her problem.
But her feet stopped moving before she got to the front door. Slowing to a stop as her eyes went upwards towards the ceiling as if she could pray to the gods to shoot down lightning to strike some sort of sense into her. Esther was already dead. Isabelle dead. Others dead. Her mission was vengeance, not… whatever this was. Except she couldn’t seem to bring herself to walk away. Hand tightening on the hilt of her dagger, missing heart thundering away in the empty cavity of her chest.
Calia was the very definition of insanity at this point. She didn’t even know what the damn thing was, let alone how to kill it, yet there she was turning on a hell to march right back.
“…alright, see the problem with leaving is that you ate MY villagers, and I can’t exactly let you get away with continuing that. So come on up out of the floor, you weird fuck, and lets see who dies first.”
All it took was for her to consider bailing out of the room and towards the door for things to change. Whatever wriggling black plague for bloody meat worms had been there, took the chance to slip away. Using the means of whatever hole in the tavern to evade that of the heartless woman.
It was likely apparent that Calia lacking a heart and it seeming to think she was part of the demon populace due to that very vital piece was enough for the creature to disappear. Where floorboards were only streaked with residue to its former existence.
Gone…
Well if it was going to die, it was apparently smart enough to avoid something that could be a problem!
Silence. Cold, empty, silence.
Fantastic.
Squeezing dagger hilt in hand, Calia stalked her way back to the tavern kitchen to find not a single wriggly little appendage peeking around from under the wooden floor boards or cabinets. Wrinkling up her nose at the strange trailing residue where they’d made their existence known – not wanting to touch the stuff, but still scuffing a boot at one of the trails to see if it had any sort of acid of sticky effect.
Damn, Calia didn’t even know what she was trying to investigate. While she might’ve traveled all over Caeldalmor and ran into a dangerous creature or two, it’s not like she went out of her way to discover and fight monsters. A few wood trolls here and there. A yeti or two. Once she’d pissed off a harpy by accident. Her physical skill had mostly been against people and her magic had done the rest. She’d discovered real quick already, that it didn’t matter how skilled she was with steel – if she didn’t know what she was fighting and how to fight it, they’d wear her stamina down to nothing!
When she finally approached that hole in the tavern floor, peering down at the dark with a deep frown, Calia debated the wisdom in any of this. If it had already eaten it’s fill, was afraid of her… maybe it wouldn’t come back? Only when did a monster ever ‘enough’! But if she went back to the camp and told everyone what happened, would they even believe her? This thing whispered with the voices of those it ate, with just enough facts to spin the perfect tale. It was Calia that killed them, and it would be Calia that killed them all.
…or she could leave. Take her curse with her and get as far away from people as possible. The thing she wanted to do in the first place, before some stupid demon put a lot of unhelpful ideas into her head. It was human to seek help from others, to be help to others, but Calia didn’t belong to the living anymore! Whatever the hell that monster was sure seemed to know it, so it was time Calia accepted it!
Her dagger returned to it’s sheath with a soft sound as she backed away from the open hole. Turning on the balls of her feet to go quickly stalking for the exit. Knowing with the way her stomach twisted and that empty cavity of her chest ached, that this was a bad choice. It was the wrong choice. Deliberately shoving those feelings down into the pit with all her other unhelpful feelings.
She’d tell the elders about the dangers, and they could do as they wished with the information. Then she’d continue onwards on her own, as it should be.
Whatever the thing was, it clearly had taken its chance to skedaddle after Calia had nearly departed the tavern. Not about to play the game of stick around and find out. Whatever she personally had going on, the thing wanted no part of it. Not even to tease or twist it around for some antics of potentially being amusing. It clearly had some sense of preservation that was not about to expire at the hands of a heartless princess.
The elders and a few those who had milled back after having been assumed gone for far too long, eyes naturally rose to when Calia returned. And looked back and forth to see if her frame had been hiding someone just behind, “How faired the search, my dear?” An older man asked, rubbing the thick of his nose as eyes seemed to be passively curious to what sort of tales of interest she might have given them this evening. With the fire being properly stoked to a good burn, they had made a pot of whatever could be thrown in, “Help yourself to something to eat, Calia. You’ve been heavy on your feet like the rest of us.” He smiled, warmly. Not a hint of malice anywhere in that presence. Seemingly pleased that she was there at all.
A person should not feel prickled and uncomfortable to be receiving such a warm smile, yet that was how Calia felt anyway. Peering at the man when he asked his question, like some sort of blinking dimwit with Mercy’s reigns twisted up in her hands. Painfully aware that kindness and soft words never lasted, especially now that she was the very harbinger of their suffering. Gut twisting on how exactly she was meant to break even more bad news to these people.
“They are likely dead,” she stated bluntly, as she couldn’t fathom any gentle way of saying it. “There was a monster in one of the buildings. With weird wriggling bits that spoke with at least two their voices that I recognized. It- …well, it escaped when it scared the shit out of me. I’m not sure where it’s gone now, so everyone should stay together at the camp and leave at first light. There should be a night watch.”
Calia could not bring herself to look at any of the others that’d gathered near the fire, nor did she have any interest in what was cooking in the pot with the way her entire being felt twisted inside. Not about to allow herself to get sucked into the fate of these people, when having her and her curse around was the last thing any of them needed. Though somehow being trapped by her own ingrained royal politesse to still remain standing there and be sure they understood the danger, instead of just walking off like she should have.
The man’s face practically fell off its hinges at both the statement and its general delivery of ripping the bandaid off. Blunt. To the point and with such a direness to it that even if one weren’t paying attention entirely, the way others began to speak and show obvious concern would have been enough. “D…dead? I—” the elder blanched when she continued.
Expressing that there was something in this place with them! Something that was weird and apparently could speak with those voices that they had known. Enough that it scared Calia but it also had fled too.
“What good is a night watch going to do!?” Someone asked in suddenly new worry. A fair worry. “We are farmers. Not fighters!”
“I thought we escaped the demon’s?” Another asked as there was the rising means of fear naturally lifting after such a reveal.
Bodies starting to move, “We should leave. Now.”
“We are trapped in here with it! How do we know there isn’t more of them!?”
The chatter rose and the elder man was trying to work his jaw back to a closed position. “Aren’t you a fighter?” Another finally asked Calia, “Shouldn’t you be able to fight it back? Didn’t you come from the capitol?”
Calia felt that a bunch of experienced elders from a village should be a little more… knowledgeable? Forward thinking? Responsible and in charge? Even in the wake of fear and chaos, surely they had experience to lean upon. Having cared for their homes, farms, and small village for all of this time… monsters and danger was not a new thing! Caeldalmor had been a peaceful kingdom, but that hadn’t meant there weren’t dangers!
They chattered, and fretted, and worked themselves up into a panic with Calia being unable to help darting her glance this way and that to follow the frenzied conversation. A grim look across stoic features and likely her mouth just as stuck in that open, stunned expression as the old man. Only to swiftly find herself the center of several stares, putting her on the spot of being a fighter. Looking to her as if she had the answers. As if she had any damn clue what to do! Esther had been eaten up with Calia right upstairs, so fighter or not, it was pretty obvious to Calia that she was completely useless to these people!
She couldn’t breathe.
Calia wasn’t sure how long she stood there like a frozen statue, thinking she might’ve blacked out altogether or even passed out, only to be roused back into present space by Mercy giving a snort and shake of her head that tugged the reigns twisted up in Calia’s hands. Forced to take in a staggered breath to glance at the equine beast before that furrowed gaze went back to the others.
“…I challenged it and it ran, so it’s likely self preserving. Prey creatures won’t attack what looks more threatening than them, so… be threatening. Keep the fires lit and a night watch doing rounds. If you try to continue on through the tunnels while everyone is exhausted, you’re going to have more trouble than a hungry cavern monster.”
There was a flurry of added murmurs. Scared, worried and likely unreasonable with this new threat being apparently so close by that it was just snacking on their villagers like farm fresh peas! They’d all fought things before but generally the sort of dangers they dealt with were bandits. Which with a good threatening of a pitchfork, tended to stay clear. Or wolves trying to get livestock when they had any.
Creatures of the whole other worldly sort, were not in their practice.
So all of this, was new. Too new and oh so frightening. Naturally looking to that of the woman that had shown herself as a fighter. Wore armour and mentioned to few that she was from the capitol. The elders had relied a little bit more on her than they likely should have and it was becoming apparent that they weren’t exactly used to being thrown so far out of their element.
Likely Calia wasn’t either.
With a stubborn clear and a need to re-think, the male elder grumped vocally at the noise. “Alright.” He spoke, looking at the woman then and her mount. “We’ll do our best. We cannot rely on the kindness of others to fix things when we are capable. Being afraid is not a terrible thing, it just means our wits will be pulled.” He tried to sound confident but it wasn’t an easy feat. “Let’s just avoid the buildings and keep a eye out. We’ll make sure no one is alone and we keep a tally of who is now with us.”
He considered the woman then, seemingly knowing what she was up too. And he was in no mind to insist on her to stay any further. She clearly didn’t want too. “Be safe as well then, dear.”
“That is the wisest thing to do,” Calia affirmed for the old man. Wishing that it came with a sense of relief, instead of that still empty echo in her chest. Finding herself struggling to get her feet moving, even though every fiber of her being was screaming for her to leave and run. Her staying might be a moment of ease for them, but she knew the longer she lingered it would eventually sour.
At least she understood exactly how they felt, though. That deep wish for someone to make it all okay. For someone full of confidence and capability to appear and promise that all would be safe.
Unfortunately for everyone, she was not that person! Calia could handle anger and rage, but this feeling…. this she wanted no part of.
“Continue on when everyone has rested,” she said one more time, just to be sure. Taking Mercy’s reigns and then leading her away straight after. To first and foremost get herself as far away from their camp as she safely could.
Where to head, well, there were no limits on tunnels to choose from. Rest would’ve been smart simply for her own sake, but Calia wasn’t sure she could close her eyes let alone sleep. Going back the way they came could be an option, but if she did want to fight her way through demons to get to that asshole Derrick, gathering some sort of holy weapon would be the best thing to do. Meaning, she would have the most likely chance of finding them if she followed the villagers route onwards towards the elven kingdom.