Out of Shadows - Prologue: A Portentous Departure

[Guest]

There is a legend among fishermen, sailors and travelers who spend their time on the sea, which they call the Goldblood. It was little-known outside that circle, though, and to anyone else witnessing the phenomenon now, it seemed to be whatever you wanted to make of it: a rare meteorological advent, a strange bending of light, a thick cloud with some unusual make-up. Probably, you just watched it in vague awe, with an odd hint of inexplicable unease just in the back of your mind.
Today, here on the dockside, on the morning of Samheen seventeenth, there was Goldblood. The sun was just coming up; it had rained a very fine rain, one that chilled you to the bone. It was extremely cloudy; and all these things together made that, as the sun came up, those clouds almost came ablaze with a dull, golden red. It was a magnificent sight, and it humbled those that looked at it. However, the red was so convincingly the colour of blood, that the sailors said that this was indeed a sign: the clouds were bleeding, weeping blood over a procession that was as yet shielded from mortal eyes.
No ship sailed on a day that was cursed with Goldblood, since most seamen, including their captains, believed that whoever set sail that day, within sight of Goldblood, would be boarded by the ghosts of all those who drowned while that light was still in the sky - and would join these restless dead to await the next crew foolish enough to depart for the sea in such portentous times. Indeed, they believed that any travel on such day was a bad omen, and would bring about something ghastly, somewhere.

Of course, sensible Court men didn't think these things. Especially men in service of the government, cultured and refined, knew such legends to be what they were: mere legends, ghost tales told to frighten women and children. They didn't look at the registers, which proved ships sank more often when the bloody light shone; they didn't mind rambling old men who'd seen those ghosts. It was backward superstition, and that was all there was to it.
Because of all this, Cerlos Gregorius had been looking for a boat for hours now. He had been asked to secure passage to the Seven Isles - most notably, the Citadel - for a diplomatic envoy. Gregorius was, in fact, the least suitable man for the job, but sadly, his station in court also made him the most likely. With little regard for what he saw as quaint customs, and none whatsoever for the local superstitions, he had blundered through the list of captains who were usually contracted for such missions, each growing more irritated with this arrogant courtier's manners. And finally, he had depleted all sea-faring options, and was left to find alternate transportation. And this was what he was currently thinking on, and rather nervously at that: for the envoy was expected at any moment, and he would most certainly be recougnized; to be found with no transportation available would certainly damage his reputation, and with that, also his chances for a quick rise within the courtiers' ranks.

Gregorius took a deep breath, looked around, thought hard for exactly three seconds, and then decided for the best alternative available to him at this moment.
He panicked.

[Iorn Thalas]

After a long last day in Kings Court, Ashari and Iorn had finally arrived at the docks. It was only him, her, and the coach driver, who left as soon as he had dropped them off. Since they were going by boat, they had quite a lot of luggage. Still, both of them knew they were actually going to travel with the pecunia coin, so the luggage was more for the show.

It was rather quiet at the docks this morning, a bit too quiet for Iorn's liking. The sky looked amazing with the red hues. Iorn had not seen it like this before, although there had been many of those first experiences the last couple of days. Looking over at Ashari he grinned.
"Even Dominicus sends us a goodbye gift."

Then Iorn spotted a man. With quick gestures and shaking hands the man walked up and down the docks. Iorn decided to approach the man.

"Lad, We are going on a diplomatic mission to the Citadel and this official letter states that the transportation has been arranged. Could you direct us to the ship that has been assigned to us?"

[Ashari]

Ashari laced her fingers with Iorn's during the ride over. It was peaceful just being in the coach with him, in his company. A wave of anticipation washed over the mage as she stepped out of their transportation onto the dock. The scent of the water filled her nostrils and she absorbed the strange reddish hue. "A parting gift indeed," she replied as she wrapped her arm around his.

"Beautiful isn't it? Like golden fire in the heavens." Even as Ash commented on the visual spectacle a slight shiver ran down her spine. Get control of your nerves, girl, really. Nothing to worry about.

Silenty the dark haired woman walked aside her lover as he spoke to the panicking fellow. He looked how she felt, which was interesting, since outwardly she showed no sign of her trepidation. Smiling consolingly toward the nervous guy she tried to put him slightly at ease. Neither Iorn nor she were particularly like the nobles he was no doubt used to dealing with for such arrangements.

[Guest]

Cerlos looked up as the emissary arrived. Cold sweat broke out all over his body as he noticed that it was Iorn and one companion. The adhiel wasn't someone to joke around with; like most lower courtiers, Cerlos knew that in cases of administrators like Iorn, you did what you were asked to do as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you'd be in trouble.
"Err, good morning, um, my lord," Gergorius began after being addressed by Iorn. In his nervousness, he even forgot to address a bow or some such to Iorn's female companion - a bad slip of form.
"We, um, seem to have, well, err..." he faltered, then tried again: "you see, there is, ah, this, um..."
Miserably, he abandoned that line as well, and simply said: "There is no ship, sir. Because of the strange sunlight, nobody is willing to sail out today."
Cerlos Gregorius let his head sink, and awaited a heated berating and, possibly, the end of his carreer at court.

[Iorn Thalas]

"No Ship?" The adhiel was sincerely surprised, as could be read from his face. He looked again at the sunlight. "Why would anyone not want to sail out with this beautiful sunlight?"

He sighed, looking at Ashari. "Can you believe this? The sunlight is a bit different and all of a sudden no one wants to sail."

Iorn had no intention on waiting any longer in Kings Court. They were going to sail today, no matter what..
"Listen, lad. You are going to take me to the best ship which is ready to sail and we are going to talk to the owner. Because one way or the other, there will be a ship."

[Guest]

Cerlos gestured to a grand, painted galleon that lay a little further off the pier. The vessel looked new, and Iorn recougnized it was one of the navy vessels that had recently been sold off to merchants in order to to stimulate trade in post-siege King's Court. On the pier itself, a couple of seamen stood grouped together, sitting relaxed in the sun and smoking. Several rowing boats waited in the water for their return to the galleon.
"I've spoken to those men there, who had originally agreed to take you with them on their trip to the Citadel. They say they won't sail out today because of what they call 'goldblood', which I think it, um, the light. They said they'll take you tomorrow."
From his tone and facial posture, Iorn could clearly see that courtier Gregorius was not planning to go back and talk to them, and considered it equally fruitless for Iorn to try and go talk to them.
"And," Cerlos added, "the rest isn't, ah, much better." He looked around. "None of the ships here want to sail today. Uh, at least, that's what they told me. In various terms of politeness."

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn was beginning to get frustrated. With a quick pace he walked towards the group of seamen, not wanting to talk to the boy any longer. As he approached the group, all kinds of insults passed his thoughts. However, insults wouldn't get him anywhere. Goldblood..pah..those lazy seamen were just afraid..

"Good morning! I've been sent on a very important mission by the Regent himself and I was told you were going to take me to the Citadel with your splendid ship!" Iorn gestured at the galleon to emphasize the grandness of it.
"But now word has reached my ear that no ship will sail today because of this beautiful sunshine. What is this "goldblood" all about?"

[Ashari]

Ashari watched as the young man stuttered out his response. She had never been as startled as that, she had never felt so flustered in anyone's presence, what a strange feeling it must've been. Even watching the fidgity fellow made her sort uncomfortable.

"You would think they would be thankful that it wasn't raining, for the first time in what feels like ages," she replied cooley.

As Iorn stepped off brazenly toward the seamen Ash couldn't help but smirk in admiration. He's nothing if not forward. Her thoughts meandered for a flicker before she smiled to the boy and reached a hand out to his shoulder. "Calm down it's ok." Ashari gave him a nod.

"Come on then, let's not let him comandeer the boat, hmmm?" Reaching her hands down the dair haired beauty picked up the heavy fabric of her skirts and walked across toward the impressive galleon. "Beautiful ship, that's what we are to ride on?" She asked the young man casually knowing full well what their true mode of transportation would be.

Overhead the sky was brightly alit with the 'goldblood' and if anything she could only appreciate it's gorgeous hues. In the back of her mind she recalled a poem she heard as a child, she wasn't sure where. Red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in morning, sailors warning. It had such a fluid rhyme to it, easily remembered. The goldblood seemed different that that though, a stranger sort of warning.

With reflection Ashari's gray eyes watched Iorn and his cheery compliments of their ship. Kill them with kindness, Love? She couldn't help but be impressed with how sure of himself he was.

[Guest]

Iorn approached the sailors with kindness. There were five of them; four in typical sailor's garb of loose clothing and cloth headwear, and one in a faded uniform-like attire - obviously an officer of sorts.
The problem was the way Iorn talked. He was used to addressing city people, and used words like 'splendid' and 'beautiful sunshine'. As a result, the men watched him wearily, automatically linking him with the very annoying courtier who'd been bothering them a couple of times just now.
"Yeah, sir, ver' beautiful. 's also ver' dangerous, sir." The officer was speaking up, and his tone was a curious mixture of officiality and contempt. "'s goldblood, a warning from the sea. If we set sail today, the souls of dead seamen will claw up from the blue and devour us."
When Ashari approached, the sailors seemed to change attitude, becoming a little more respectful. Nevertheless, the officer's gaze was firm. "Look, we can take you to the ship if you demand lodgings, but we're not going anywhere today, sir. Sorry."

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn cursed himself for starting off on the wrong tone. It was logical they would find his language too noble. He was getting to good at the nobility game.. Fortunately Ashari had joined the conversation and that definitely seemed to help. Getting on board brought them at least a bit further..

Iorn sighed, changing his posture to lose a bit of the arrogance which came with the nobility act. "alright. That would be a start. It's still a little weird for me though..you sailors are known for your courage, man! I thought you feared nothing! And now, all I see is read light, and you tell me you don't dare to set sail!"

[Guest]

The officer regarded him coolly. "Look, sir, we are men of the sea. Each storm may take our ship and our lives, so don't talk to me about courage. We have more courage than any of you Court folk will ever see. This ain't to do about courage. This is choosing certain death or not. If you set out at Goldblood, you die. Simple's that."
But nevertheless, he nodded to one of the men still in the rowing boat. "Put your luggage in there, and step aboard. Curran will take you out to the Sailor Sun. We'll get you two a cabin fer sleep and your things, and you can stay there 'till we sail, or come back to shore. Do as you like."

[Iorn Thalas]

And that was the sign that this round of the conversation had ended. Next stop: the ship. Iorn nodded to the officer. "alright, we'll go aboard."
Then he took Ashari by the hand and walked away from the men. As soon as they were out of hearing distance he whispered his ideas to her.

"Ok..obviously we aren't going anywhere with these people. But we might be able to think about our next step when we are on the ship, so it's better to play along for the moment, don't you agree?"

[Ashari]

OOC: Why do you boys only post when I'm out of town?

IC:

Ashari quietly watched the banter between Iorn and the officer. She was tempted to pipe in her own comments about the court's lack of courage, but she bit her tongue and kept in inside. Oh sure, we are such wusses never do anything... except fight ghosts! If anyone fears the dead it should be us. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the cold sensation that chilled her to the core when the ghoul babe had bitten her arm. Absently she rubbed the spot where the wound had been before she used her magick to heal it.

As she was lead by the hand away from the sailors Ash nodded. "Sounds fine to me." The young lady was distracted by her memories, but tried to press onward toward their new life. "You better make sure they are careful with my dresses," she added jokingly as she attempted to pretend nothing was wrong. A bright smile lit her face. "We should hurry, no? The sooner we are aboard the sooner we can scheme." The dark haired beauty winked.

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn grinned to Ashari.
"Ah yes, and quite fortunately I am accompanied by the Queen of scheming."

He did not think the sailors were going to help with their luggage, at least, not out of their own intention. And Iorn certainly wasn't going to ask them.
As they approached the younger boy that was sent to arrange their travelling needs, the adhiel looked stern. "Right, we are going to get on the ship. You can place our luggage in that boat and the sailors will take them to our quarters."

They then walked over to the boat and stepped in, waiting for the luggage to be brought in and for the boat to take them to the ship.

[Ashari]

Ashari grinned. "Yes, indeed, you are quite lucky." As Iorn sternly told the young man what he expected of him and what he wanted him to do the dark haired beauty offered him an encouraging smile. Lifting her skirts from the damp dock Ash set after her lover and cautiously put a foot into the small boat.

She had never been on a boat before, and she wasn't sure how much she would like it. Grabbing hold of Iorn's hand she held it tight and awaited their belongings. "Iorn... can you swim?" Ashari asked somewhat nervously. "I never learned."

Her dark grey eyes glanced over to him and she blushed slightly. "Not that I'm scared or anything," she added. "Just stating it is all." Absently the fingers of her other hand drummed on her lap.

[Guest]

Cerlos didn’t quite know whether to be relieved or insulted. On the one hand, the courtier had taken things very well (considering the situation) and had even brought the situation to a good end, meaning Cerlos didn’t have to go back to his superiors and explain his failure. On the other hand, Iorn was ordering him to carry luggage, something that was normally done strictly by servants. He wasn’t at all thrilled about that, yet while he felt the insult take hold of him and indignation rise, reflex had already kicked in, and he was walking to retrieve the first bit of luggage.
With the next few moments, their paltry bits of personal belonging had all been transferred to the rowing boat, and after a nod from the officer, the rough-looking man who was handling the oars started rowing. With another few minutes, they were at the Sun.

Their cabin turned out to be rather spacious. The captain of the vessel, who called himself Ignatio, had welcomed them and shown them to their quarters; the luggage was delivered, and they now found themselves alone in the cabin. Although spacious, it smelled faintly of rotting wood and old saltwater, and contained only one small bed along with several mattocks. The room was very sparsely filled, with two chests for personal belongings and little else except their luggage, which had just been delivered to them.
“We sail tomorrow morning,” the captain had said in a very definite tone – the kind of a lord on his own territory. “What you do with your time until then is your own call.”

[Iorn Thalas]

Swim...pah...of course Iorn could swim..at least...how hard could it be?
Without looking too brave next to the sailors, Iorn answered; "I learned myself..just enough to save myself. I avoid water most of the times." He coughed, not wanting to go any deeper on the subject. The rest of the time they were in the boat Iorn looked the other way, not wanting more of those questions. Don't you start claiming things you can't prove Iorn..what if she really falls into the water, hmm?

As they were finally alone in their cabin, the fun part was about to begin.
"So..what do you propose we do? We could try to scheme them all in sailing away today, or..." He walked around Ashari, stopping as he stood behind her.
Kissing her neck he continued. "or...we could just spend the whole day in bed, waking up tomorrow as we sail away."

[Ashari]

Ashari was relieved at his reply. "Good." She nodded. "Maybe someday you can teach me." She smiled and held his hand as they made their way across the water toward their impressive vessel.

Silently she listened as water slapped against the sides of their small boat. The wooden frame echoing soundidly as each small wave washed against it. The dark haired woman watched as the rows dipped into the water and created momentum from the dark depths of the water. It was strangely beautiful, so black and seemingly neverending.

Once their trunks had been brought in and they where thankfully alone Ash tried to relax a bit. She crossed her arms in thoughtful contemplation as she considered his words. "Hmmm.. what to do indeed," she cooed as she felt the warmth of his breath wash over her shoulder before he kissed her neck. The affection sent a shiver down her spine. How she longed to be with him in that moment.

Turning on her heel Ash faced him. "Oh Love, you tempt me," she replied, her eyes sparkling with an energetic aura. Baiting him she teasingly pulled away and then leaned in to kiss him. Slowly and reluctantly she retracted from the kiss. "Mmmm.. I could easily do this all day." Her hands wrapped around his shoulders and rested behind his neck. "What about the Pecunia coin you were talking about?" Ash asked. "You never told me the specifics of the trinket." Her head tilted to the side slightly, but she didn't retreat from his embrace, it was perfect being in his arms.

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn rested his hands on the hips of his lover. The kiss felt good, as always. It made the stench of this place bearable. It also made him forget the heaving of the ship on the sea.

"Well..there isn't really much I know about the coin. Heste gave it to me and said it would work like a magic portal, instantly transporting us to the pecunia temple in the Citadel. However, he also mentioned I should not take more then three people with me. Since it's only the two of us, I guess we should have some room for the luggage, but I don't know how the coin works exactly..If we should keep on to the stuff we want to take along or something."

Iorn imagined the whole cabin being transported straight into the temple in the citadel and how funny that would look. Pieces of wooden walls in the center of a stone temple, people looking up , wondering how the hell that would have gotten there. And Ash and him in the middle of it all. He also imagined the captain walking through his ship and noticing a big hole in one of the decks. That would definitely be worth a look. He grinned at the images in his head.

"I imagine we can definitely take some luggage with us, at least the money. I'll keep a really tight hold on the money, heh, maybe sticking it on my body with a piece of rope or something."

With his green eyes he looked at her face, an enthusiastic, teasing look on his face. "But the real question remains..When are we going to use the coin?"

[Ashari]

"So that's it then, and it takes you right to the temple. Sounds simple enough." She looked down at her trunk, anything she really wanted she had packed into her satchel, and there was yet room. If anything else warranted being carried she could easily fit it into the leather backpack.

"How will our disappearance be explained though?" Ash asked, knowing full well they couldn't just use the coin in the cabin and have the captain find out they were missing later on. "I mean, unless we did something dramatic..." Several ideas popped into her head of the ways they could be permanantly gone from King's Court and it's people.

His teasing tone caught her ear and she winked, but then sighed. "I want to go, Love, the sooner the better." She wasn't quite sure why she felt so strongly about it, but it was as if that chapter of her life had ended. "The faster that we are in the Citadel the faster we can be together."

She looked around the cabin. "So.. are you up to playing dead?" Her eyes took on a calculating gaze. "What if we staged an event that would cost our lives... hmm? We'd be free and those of King's Court would be none-the-wiser. Just think, clean slate."

Ashari fingered the collar of Iorn's shirt and leaned in to kiss him again, her soft lips pressing against his as she thought more on what they could do. "What about a fire? I mean, this is just a cabin, and at the top of the ship at that, they would douse the flames immediately no doubt, and we'd already be gone, and thought dead." She wondered if it was too drastic a plan, but, she was notorious for such. Imagine someone knocking themself uncocious just to avoid arrest...

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn couldn't help but to grin. Setting the ship on fire was a wonderful idea, but also very unrealistic.

"Love..it's a great idea, but I do think they have protected these ships against fire..." The grin was still on his face. Looking around the room he added: "And besides that..how do you suppose we make this fire, hmm? I ain't no magician you know, Can't have it pop out of my hand or something.."

[Ashari]

Ashari bit her lip, hard, when he made the comment about not being a magician. Keep it in, keep it in... However, the joke did jolt her mind with the idea. "Well, maybe you can't..." She looked around the room. Bed linens and mattress, window curtains, carpets, wood... all flammable objects. "And there is plenty to burn." A certain playful flicker lit her eyes. "Hmm." Silently she slipped from Iorn's grasp and moved over to the bed. Pushing down on the matress she checked to make sure it was filled with straw as that would be the easiest thing to catch on fire. Pulling open the mattress, or cutting it with her dagger if necessary she exposed the dry, brittle interior.

"Like this for instance, very flammable." Looking up at Iorn Ash winked. The dark haired beauty kneeled down on the floor next to the bed and rubbed her palms together while considering her options. She had never magickally started a fire before, this was to be an interesting experience to test her abilities.

Taking in a deep breath Ash closed her eyes and lifted her right hand to place it near the mattress. She allowed it to hover close, but not touch the linens. Exhaling the mage focussed her sights on the energy surrounding her, but more importantly, that which was within her, which had been what she learned to harness best. Recalling the sensation of forcing the gust of wind toward the ghosts, how she had wanted to push them away, she tried to create the warmth of fire. Her fingers reflexively stretched and recoiled, her fist opening and closing as she tried to fill it with a ball of flames.

Her breathing had become less frequent, there were more important things at stake than proper intake of air. Once again she sought the inner sanctum of her mind where she had found the ability to read other's thoughts and will them to do her bidding. It was a safe and peaceful place devoid of exterior obligations.

Mother, please let this work... She had worked this before, had created a force out of nothing, made the wind appear and drive off her foe, that had been a life or death situation. Part of her imagined this was as well. She needed to kill her former self to start anew.

[Guest]

Ashari reached into the depths of her mind for the power to set things afire. Unfortunately, that seemed rather hard to find.
The power to project a force had been, it turned out, a very different thing. Minds are force, as an ancient Tazlurian philosopher had once said, and so force had been easy to grasp. Fire was quite something else. Ashari tried to search herself for it, to open herself to these inner energies, but they just weren’t there – or if they were, she was unable to find them.
As she opened herself to the flow of energies, though, she did sense the presence of a volatile, heated energy. However, it wasn’t within her; it was somewhere outside, flowing around her, and around Iorn.
And then, suddenly, as if someone had popped open the tightened lid of a jar, she became aware of the energy around her. It was flowing past her in streams far greater than any amount she felt residing within herself; it was rich, vibrant, almost beggingly intoxicating. There was a lot of waterish energy, blue, slightly unpredictable, smoothly flowing; also, from past the walls (she assumed it was a candle on the other side) lazy but chaotic strands of fiery red drifted in.
She had found her fire.

[Ashari]

It took a lot of concentration to search through her mind, trying to find something to work with, and it didn't even gain her anything. As Ashari pulled from the inner energies she suddenly found herself surrounded by moving strands of light and color. Her eyes shot open as she absorbed the new information, the quick paced, and almost fluid strands moving among one another. Her immediate thought was of water, and it made sense why they would be prolific, they were, after all, on the lake.

Among the numerous flowing strands of blue were tendrils of chaotic shifty red which piqued Ashari's interest. "Fire.." she murmered and reached forward with her right hand, slowly at first, cautiously, as she tried to gently take hold of the red strings. If she could grasp the slowly moving burgundy tress she would put her efforts into creating fire with it, though she wasn't exactly sure how that would work. So, she took a deep breath and looked directly at her hand, imagining it to be aflame.

Her iron gray eyes were alit with curiousity at the new discovery of the energies around her. She had been aware of her own energy source, and had imagined that such must be everywhere, but this was amazing. The beautiful sorceress couldn't help the smile forming at the corners of her full lips. "Love.. are you ready with that coin?" she asked, but already was moving her hand toward the dry straw mattress.

[Iorn Thalas]

Iorn waited a couple of flickers while Ashari held her hand over the matrass and was doing something. The adhiel was still grinning, although the thought did cross his mind that maybe, just maybe, she was able to surprise him again and could really make fire. nah..she couldn't just..

Then as she asked with a self confident voice if he was ready, he was starting to believe her. damn that girl! How can she do all this? she's amazing! Quickly he made sure the money was in the bag and tied up to his belt. He didn't really need any of the other stuff in the cases, he had everything he needed on his body. He grabbed to coin out of one of his pockets and held it into his hand, now beginning to be a bit sweaty.

"Uhm..yah..I think we're all set.." The grin had disappeared, although he was still waiting for the fire to shoot out of her hands, or whatever would happen.