Lieutenant Auris Oretharos sits, perched atop the watchtower platform, looking out over the town. It's starting to look like a town now, too. The light dims, wispy clouds passing over the moon, and she turns to scan the beach, and pauses. The few figures there are huddled about each other, and there's a twinge from Auris' shoulder as an uneasy feeling settles in her stomach. She glances across to the other guard as she reaches absentmindedly to her shoulder, but her hand only brushes metal and leather, the scar buried beneath layers of armor and clothing.
The clouds slip clear of the moon, the brighter light shimmering across Tareyna's blue skin as she nods to Auris and descends from her platform to make her way to the beach. ...Weren't there more people there before? Auris frowns, but the murmured sounds of conversation catch her attention over the surf, directing her gaze closer to the palisade surrounding the town. She squints toward the group there, the air warm about her—she tests it, feeling for Miris, if the power that hangs about her might clear her vision...
"Please," comes a woman's voice, and Auris recognizes Danara—few other women here could match the famed blacksmith's height.
The second figure gestures sharply, but she can't make out any details in the wall's shadow. The third, though, is much shorter than Danara, and shifts anxiously on their feet. Auris tilts her head, frowning. Something in the movement feels familiar...
"Lieutenant."
Tareyna's salute draws Auris from her thoughts, and she looks down to see the woman with the wizard Alboba a little behind her—and an unmoving figure laid out on...thin air? Must be the wizard's work. Auris climbs down from the watch tower. "What's happened, then?" she asks as she turns.
Tareyna draws a breath, glancing back to the wizard. "Right. So it seems this one, ah, Marran's—companion..."
Marran, of course. That's why his movements were familiar, the way he always seems to skulk wherever he goes...
"Any'ow," Tareyna continues, "Alboba says this one's been mistreating Marran, apparently, calling 'im no' even a person? And jes now, she says they made 'im fight her and Danara 'gainst his own will when those two went to confront 'em. And there's some sort o' mind control goin' on? Can't say as I understand it, but it seems Marran was all right once thisun got knocked o'er the head, could act as 'e wished again, so I'm takin' these two back to headquarters if you've got the rest?"
Auris glances toward the gate, and the other group out of sight beyond it. "Yes...do that. I'll see if I can't get this mess sorted out."
"Aye, sir." And Tareyna's gone.
Auris gathers herself with a breath, and approaches the gate.
"So tell us why ye want to help 'im, mebbe that'll help." The gruff voice catches her off guard, but it's unmistakable. Gash. She can't decide whether to relax at the familiarity or grimace at the stubborn lack of details sure to follow.
Marran stutters a moment. "He's family," he settles on, his tone more confused than anything else. "I have to help him."
"He was controlling you," Danara says despairingly as Auris rounds the corner.
"What's happening here?" Auris asks.
"Nothing," says Danara with a sniffle, wiping at her eyes. "Too much." A beat. "We need to get Marran somewhere safe! The—the other one, the elf, he was controlling him! We need to get him somewhere safe!"
"What do you mean, 'controlling'?"
"Is it some sorta wizardry, Marran?" Gash asks. "Figured it was just them bein' charmin' and such."
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Auris of the Thousand Names: A Weaver's Chronicle
Fantasy[Updates Thursdays] They wouldn't let her save the world. Unable to keep patience with the figureheads and red tape of the city-state governments, Auris turned her attention smaller, to a new settlement, and to a bare handful of its inhabitants cau...
