Curse and Fortune Ch. 02

"It really would surprise me if Lord Darrow bothered with chasing us down though." Pris noted, driving a tent peg into the soft earth. "A smalltime bounty hunter maybe."

"We can tell them he's keeping us hostage." Gabe chuckled to himself as he started setting up a ring of stones for a campfire. As Milliana returned with firewood, he grasped his holy symbol, muttered a prayer and the wood caught fire near instantly.

"Well I'm sorry if I just want to have a bit of fun while in town!" Kaiser snapped back, his brow furrowing. "Not my fault the girl was a noble. How was I supposed to know? She barely even mentioned her own name."

Rickhart sat down on a folding stool and rubbed his brow.

"I know you're worried for the crew, Rick. But it's not worth getting worked up over." He put a hand on Rickhart's shoulder and looked at him reassuringly.

"That's not it, you boot-sole for a brain." He straightened his back and his joints and muscles popped loudly. When Kaiser just looked perplexed at him he stood up. "You spent the night with her and you didn't even notice?"

"What? Delaina? Yes, she's Lord Darrow's daughter, but-"

"Not her, Kai. The other one." Pris nodded, finally certain on the problem that had troubled her the whole day. Rickhart looked knowingly to her as she continued. "The brown haired girl."

"What, Zula? What about her?" He looked even more bewildered before his eyes shot up. "Oh no... don't tell me..."

"You finally noticed?" Rickhart looked a bit more relieved while Kaiser looked just the opposite.

"Yeah..." He looked just as green as this morning. "Oh gods, I hope it's curable!"

Pris blinked. "What? No, what are you...?"

She looked to Rickhart who only shrugged, just as confused.

"Zula... You bitch!!" Kaiser snapped, his eyes shooting up to Gabriel. "You- C-Can you cure it?!" He shook as he nearly ran towards the cleric and grabbed him by the front of his robes. "Please tell me you can cure me, Gabe. I'm too young to give up sex. We're friends right? We're-"

Gabriel looked at him bewildered for a moment before realization washed over him and he started laughing loudly. Rickhart sat down again, his face buried in his hands and Pris felt like she was rolling her eyes backwards into her own skull.

"You're not infected, Kaiser" Pris reassured him exasperatedly. "Or maybe, I don't know. Maybe maggots have already eaten the reasonable portion of your brain." She turned to Rickhart who looked ready to hang up his adventuring mantle for good. "I didn't think any of it, but since you mentioned it too I doubt there's any mistake."

Kaiser looked up, his relief quickly souring as he noticed their expressions. Gabriel and Milliana looked to Pris as well.

"The girl with the brown hair. Zula, was it?" Rickhart looked to Kaiser, who nodded. "On her forearm she bore a tattoo I hoped never to see again." The looks on the others' faces were clear in understanding the situation.

"A black spiral, framed." Milliana muttered, her voice betraying a rare hint of anxiousness. "They found us?"

"We don't know for sure." Rickhart noted. "But I would be willing to bet my share of spoils on it."

Rondel, the capital of magic, was a city renown not only for its mages and, most notably, its university, but also for its many gangs, one of them being the Pitchcloaks. A group of cutthroats and extortionists with little regard for the well being of anyone outside of the crew, the group was not on anyone's list of people they wanted to mess with. There were even rumors of the gang being a front for a cult.

Yet, the Rubicons had been tasked to clean out their coffers by a dwarven nobleman who had been screwed over by them with a promise that his name never be mentioned. And so they had and, in the process, messed with them very much indeed. Priscilla was quite surprised they had managed to complete the job at all, but undoubtedly they would cross paths again at some point. And now seemed to be one of those times.

"We should be happy we managed to commit to the act the whole way through and not drop our real names. Should deter any diviners from finding us too easily." Prscilla paused, biting her lip. "Is what I'd like to say..."

Kaiser sighed but nodded, just as the sound of thumping footsteps could be heard as Norrin, with a spray of blood streaked across his chest, emerged from the treeline. For half a moment, Pris felt her stomach drop until she noticed a pair of dead boars under his arms.

"Let's hope the king can spare one or two of them." He said happily as he dropped the carcass next to the fire. He looked about expectantly, but grew a concerned knot between his eyes as he met everyone's eyes. "...What's with the faces?"

Rickhart sighed, looking about into the dark. "We'll take turns keeping watch. Two-and-two, watch each others' backs." he said after explaining the ordeal to Norrin. "Be on guard tonight. Keep your weapons at the ready."

"After dinner. I need food before bed." Pris stood up straight and stretched.

Milliana and Kaiser got to skinning the boars and Pris started reviewing if she needed any of the body for magical components while Nugget sniffed at the fresh meat of the carcass. Kaiser deftly sliced off a piece and tossed it over and the fey cat attacked it with vigorous intent.

Two hours later, just as the last light of the day quelled over the treetops, strips of meat were merrily roasting on spits over the crackling fire and Pris was finishing up quick-tanning the boar's hide with magic. She was no expert on it, but the hide would not rot at the very least.

"Food's ready!!" Gabriel hollered as the smell of roasted wild meats and mushrooms wafted all over camp. It was salivating to say the least. "It's not anything you'll find at Howler's but should suffice." He said, handing Pris a spit of roasted boar.

"Thanks." Her words spoke true, but her stomach felt like vomiting.

For the first time that day, as the first stars started to shimmer above, silence crept over the camp. The crew ate with sharpened senses, glancing over each other's shoulder every few seconds or so, half expecting to see a cloaked assassin in the dark.

The lax attitude from earlier in the day was completely gone and Pris was feeling anxious again. She cradled Nugget in her lap and leaned her head on Millie's shoulder, listening to her humming softly to herself, appreciating the calm it brought. Her mind wandered over to the spells she had prepared for the day. A couple she wished she could have the time to review, but now that evening was here...

I'll make due. I just hope the forest is moist enough to not catch fire easily...

"So what's our next target, boss." Kaiser asked carefully after Rickhart had eaten enough to look amicable again. The red knight looked sideways at him for a moment.

"Oreburrow first." He said after a short pause. "Another five or six days and we should be there. I got a tip from Mr. Bordan. Apparently his cousin Samson owns some mines up in the Rendi Mountains that is in need of a spring cleaning."

Remembering the squat dwarf from last night, Pris wondered whatever was in his cousin's mines that would require their help.

Hopefully nothing too dangerous. Though, if there's some magical things to find~

As the night settled in on them and sleep was starting following close behind, Rickhart stated he would take the first watch and Kaiser offered to join him. Pris, in the meantime, pulled out a spool of thin, silver thread. She tied one end to a branch and then, while chanting to herself, started to walk the entire circumference of the camp, hanging a small bell at every twenty feet she traced up until she reached the first end of the thread, cut the end off and tied the two together.

"At least we'll know if anyone tries to sneak up on us." She muttered, stuffing the spool back in her pouch as the spell took effect, and the thread and bells shimmered and disappeared from view. Before entering her and Millie's tent, she ordered Nugget to stay outside and keep watch and wake her the moment something humanoid other than them entered the camp.

"Meow." Said Nugget and stretched before silently sitting vigil outside the tent.

"Are you mad at him?" Milliana asked as she readied her bedroll.

"Hm? At Kaiser?" Pris kept her voice low as she dug out her own from her pack. When Millie nodded, Pris shook her head. "We were all pretty drunk last night. Still?" She had to laugh. "How bloody stupid could we be? We practically shoved the entire treasure in her face."

"If we faulted ourselves for that, we'd have too much to worry about." Millie lay down but did not undress and Pris was of the same mind. While she didn't wear any armor, Pris's coat was special in that it offered a solid boost to her defense, aiding her in blocking incoming harm and warding off dangerous spells. It had belonged to an adventurer who had sadly perished long ago in a lost dungeon far to the south that Pris had been lucky enough to find, praying it would protect her better than her predecessor.

She left the coat on as she cuddled up to Millie. Though still on edge, she found her lover's breathing soothing and quickly enough drifted off to sleep; a turmoil of color and flashing images that coalesced into scene after scene. Grass fields covered in myriads of tiny camps all over. Tiny cloaked figures shooting to and fro, swishing of daggers, a spray of red.

Her legs felt heavy, like lead. She couldn't run. But if she didn't try, she stood still. The cloaks, black as the night itself, yet clear as day before her, closed in. Steel for hands, they came in the hundreds and far, far above, only four stars shone brightly on the otherwise black night sky. Pris looked up. Was it even up? Or down? Or in?

Four stars.

And a fainter fifth.

And her chest ached.

Like a hand clutching at her heart, her chest burned like hot irons. She screamed but no sound came. She grasped. Grasped for the lights. Her hands reached to the stars.

And it found purchase.

A heat in her hand, she clenched it. A star plucked out of the heavens.

"Help." She wanted to say, but couldn't. Her voice would not come.

"Help!" She tried again, holding the star to her chest. Clenching it until it shattered in her hand.

And a wave surged from her, like a blast of wind pressure. The cloaks were blown back, their forms disappearing. Their steel clattering to the ground.

Pris looked up again.

Three stars.

And the pain returned, sharper.

She screamed again and found, she could scream.

She reached up again and her eyes met only green. She looked about, recognizing the inside of her tent. Her breath came ragged and sweat poured down her face, her clothes and gear clammy.

She looked about.

"Milliana?" She tried, faintly. No response.

Am I still dreaming? She thought just as the canvass of the tent was pushed aside and Millie's silver head poked through.

"Hi." She smiled as Nugget poked between her legs and darted in and into Pris's lap. "Are you alright? You look pale."

"I - I'm fine." Pris said, squinting. "What time is it?" She stroked Nugget affectionately.

"Nearly dawn." Millie said, crawling in. "Me and Norrin just finished our watch so I was about to wake you up."

"O - Okay." She started to make her way out of the tent, but Millie caught her wrist.

"Are you alright?" She asked again, more sharply, but still as gently as a feather. Pris didn't turn to look her in the eyes. She could easily hear the worry in Millie's voice.

"No." Pris said, chuckling morbidly. "Not at all, in fact..." She wanted nothing but to turn and press her face into Millie's chest, listening to her singing. "But now's not the time." She turned and found those beautiful eyes again. "We'll talk later" She smiled. Milliana held her grip a bit longer, but eventually smiled, stroking Pris's hand.

"Okay. Let's talk on the morrow."

Pris kept Millie's face in her memory as she stepped out into the night, taking a deep breath of the crisp air. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any rain incoming any time soon. Gabriel was already sitting by the fire, yawning as he was hanging up a kettle over the flames.

"Tell me, Priscilla." His expression was a mixture of tiredness and intense focus as he stared at the kettle. "Would it be cheating if I just, you know, heated it with a divine touch?"

"Coffee?" Pris asked, cocking an eyebrow as she took a seat opposite him, keeping an eye over his shoulder while Nugget sat at her side, looking behind her.

"No chance in all the nine hells that I'll survive the night without." Gabe yawned and scratched his chin. "You alright? Had a nightmare?" As their eyes met, Pris was met with the feeling that Gabe could see right through her.

"Sometimes, you're just a tad too perceptive for your own good." Pris sighed and nodded. "Yeah. But it's nothing to worry about. I'll manage, somehow." She didn't know whether it was a lie or not, but it certainly felt so.

"Which one? The black figure or the stars?" Gabriel lit his pipe for the fifth time that day. The rest of the crew had tried to get him to quit, but to no avail. He had been a heavy drinker in his youth, but once he was touched by the divine and had a revelation, as he put it, it was either drink or smoke that had to go, not both. A trail of red smoke started rising from the pipe as he puffed to get it started, proving his choice once more.

"The stars." Pris confessed, putting a hand to her chest. She pulled on the hem of her shirt and looked down. Four, tiny green lights shone dimly back at her. No sight of any fifth. Was she disappointed? Or relived? She couldn't tell. "Anything to report for the night, by the way?" She said, hoping to change the subject.

"Norrin swear he saw a unicorn." Gabriel muttered with amusement and fidgeted with his holy symbol before huffing and giving in to laziness and pointed to the kettle. It took only a moment before it started to hiss as steam rose from it just as a tiny pi-ri-ri-ring resounded in Pris's head.

She tensed up just as she heard Nugget growl in the direction behind her.

"Gabe." She hissed, her hand subtly going to her component pouch.

The cleric's brow was furrowed with serious intent. He didn't say anything, but his demeanor had changed instantly, looking straight over her shoulder and breathed a thick puff of smoke from his lips. The red smoke twisted and snaked up into a pattern Pris recognized instantly before dissipating.

'Three' and 'sword'. Three intruders, in other words

Her mind went to Milliana, but had no means to communicate with her without raising suspicion, or the others for that matter, so instead, she closed her eyes and her mind met Nugget's. In a brief moment of vertigo, her sense of sight and sound shifted and she saw herself from a much lower angle through the corner of her - through Nugget's eyes.

Three figures cloaked in black from head to toe stood about thirty or so feet behind her and a fourth further behind, outside of the firelight. The first three all had short swords drawn while the fourth carried a crossbow. Luckily, the tents were in the other direction. Pris fidgeted with a soft bead between her fingers; she could easily burn the four of them to crisp, but the Pitchcloaks had snuck up next to their cart.

Shit!

A tense moment later, Gabe stood up and smiled. "Hoy there, travelers!" He said, loudly, waving a hand. "Want to share our fire?"

Pris snapped out of her familiar's senses, back to her own as she stood up and turned, clenching the bead of rolled up bat shit and sulfur in her hand.

"I'd calm my voice if I were you, cleric." The foremost of the cloaks said. Pris recognized the voice even though they tried to hush it.

"Zula, eh!" Gabriel said, just as jovially and without regard for subtlety. "We never got the chance to be properly introduced, but do sit d-"

A bolt flew past Pris's face and she turned with a start to look at Gabriel who had a small gash at the side of his face. The Pitchcloak in the back lowered his crossbow and started reloading it, a snarky smile on his hooded face.

"As I said. Keep your voice down or I'll send you to your god a few minutes earlier." Zula snapped. Her face was hidden under the hood with only her mouth was visible, smirking upwards. Thick brown locks streamed out from the hood as well, giving Pris all the proof she needed.

Pris looked at Gabriel again who, while throwing his hands up, sighed as he met her eyes, puffing another stream of red smoke that snaked down towards the kettle which had turned red from his heating spell. Priscilla did her best not to smile and winked before turning her attention back to their new guests.

"I seem to understand you have something of ours." Zula said in a low voice, brandishing her sword towards Pris. "After all, you were kind enough to show me just last night. Hand it over, along with that fancy belt and just about all your valuables, and I'll let you go with just a few scrapes."

The two cloaks by her side started to move in, the atmosphere tensing.

"I should probably mention; I'm a very impatient person." She emphasized, smirking.

"And as I said," Gabriel noted. Pris could almost feel his grin in the back of her neck "Come, share our fire. Pris!!"

Immediately, Pris jumped to the side, snapping her fingers towards the kettle and it flew as if launched by a catapult straight towards the nearest Pitchcloak. Her victim, barely recognizing what had happened, started screaming in pain as steaming water and red-hot kettle slammed him straight in the face, clutching his scalding face as he dropped to his knees.

The other Pitchcloak rushed in towards Gabriel, stabbing with his sword and missed his throat by an inch. With a spin and a second swipe, Gabriel winced as the blade shore through his pant leg, red blood flying.

"So much, for hospitality." He smiled and clutched his pendant in his hand and held out his other towards his opponent as a large, shimmering shepherd's staff sprang into existence just behind the man. Gabriel flicked his hand and the staff swung and clobbered the Pitchcloak straight in the back as a spark of light shone from the impact. Gabe snapped his fingers and the Pitchcloak's eyes went wide for a second and Pris could have sworn she heard a bell ring out from somewhere.

And the Pitchcloak dropped instantly.

"Kill them!!" Zula shouted. Stepping back a bit as, out from among the trees, four more of them emerged, blades at the ready. "And you!" She held her hand out towards Pris as two bolts of crackling energy shot from it. Pris dodged the first and went for a roll just as the second took her in the chest and she rolled back and coughed, getting shakily to her feet just in time to see Zula rush in.

Pris could see the blade charge towards her face and, for a moment, felt a wave of genuine fear wash over her as she snapped out her hand towards the woman. A warm feeling rushed up from her chest and into her hand as a wave of force emitted from it and the blade stopped mere inches from her right eye as Zula was shot backwards and slammed onto the ground.

"What the..." Pris started, but barely had time to react as a crossbow bolt splintered against the force bubble that surrounded her. A loud curse came from the furthest Pitchcloak.

"You don't have time to look away!"

Pris felt her heart jump to her throat as, from her left, a black clad figure swung with all his might towards her. With his blade whistling through the air, she braced for impact as loud clang resounded around her.

Looking up to see a wave of silver accompanied by a flash of a sword as the Pitchcloak fell over, Pris felt elated.

"Neither do you." Milliana said coldly, flourishing her blade and held out her hand towards Pris without taking her eyes off the enemies around them. Taking her hand and being pulled up, Pris took a stance beside her, looking about.