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[ R O W A N ]

Rowan spent the night in silence, she didn't want to draw any unwarranted attention to the pair travelling. Most of the time she contemplated going back home after leaving so abruptly, and especially after fighting with her teacher over the nature of her "discovery". She still hurt thinking about it. Eventually the sun began to rise and she took a look at her arm in the thin sunlight as they dismounted and headed into the woods. The strange scales were hard, but flexible, none of her joints were limited in the slightest. She carefully pulled one of the golden claws across her opposite palm to test the sharpness, it slid through the skin as if it were warm butter. The blood on her palm was still crimson and appeared human in nature. She pondered this, it all felt so distant for the time being, as if it were not her arm, but someone else's, not her curse, not her problem.

She glanced up as her travelling companion approached and struck up a conversation. She listened with bags under her eyes and a dull look to her eyes, but as a trained mage she absorbed the information and would be able to recall it later. She was well versed in listening to lectures.

"You did mention I could call you G, I just did not respond at the time. I was rather anxious. I am sure you can understand. You can call me Rowan. We're getting close, over this way," Rowan pointed off the trail and into the woods before setting off in the new direction but didn't respond otherwise to the topic at hand. She was too tired. If she didn't rest soon she would have to cast something to draw energy from a natural source, and the more she did that the bigger the toll would be to pay later when it ran out. She found her way to the small creek and peered down the little gully it splashed into. "This is the entrance, I am not aware of any other way down, but I should be able to keep us dry and undamaged." the young mage gestured with her good arm and directed her words and her will at their clothes, "Aquam repellunt. Our clothes should keep us above the water for a short period, follow me."

She ducked into the opening and allowed her body to float down the stream until she dropped out of the waterfall. Her boots caught her on the water and she quickly dashed to the sandy shore.

"This way, quickly, the spell is not long term!" She warned G, her voice echoed around the small cave as she turned to see if he had trusted her and followed along.

[ A R T E M I S ] / G E R E T H / I V O R Y

Gereth floated down the river with a strange sense of calm, he didn't feel the wet or the cold of the river, it was almost like floating on air. The waterfall was a bit different, having the sensation of floating suddenly being replaced with falling. He landed on the water's surface and walked to the bank, the cave was surprisingly well lit for not having any torches or candles. Sunlight was streaming in through small holes in the ceiling, between roots, and through cracks in the earthen roof. There was an open doorway on the far side of the chamber, that was why they were here. Gereth walked across the cave and through the doorway, the chamber on the other side was surprisingly barren; just a pedestal in the center, and an ornate wall-shaped statue on the far side of the room. The pedestal was likely where the egg had rested, until Rowan had removed it. But it was the wall that interested Gereth. The room was large, very large; two adult dragons probably could have fit inside and still had room to move. Gereth reached the wall statue and sat down, he removed the black book from his bag along with several sheets of paper with his signature short-hand writing on them. Then he took a quill, a small bottle of ink, and a blank piece of parchment; and began to translate the wall. "When we saw that our kind was doomed to be banished from this plane, we hid our yet unborn children, that they may awaken... that's odd. It doesn't continue, it's just a fragment of the whole truth. There must be others hidden in places that no one has yet found. That is frustrating indeed, these walls must contain history from the age of dragons, from the dragon's perspective. The value of this knowledge could be infinite, but it looks like we'll have to find others before we can learn what really happened. Or how to remove the dragon aspect from you." Gereth kept his voice calm, but in reality he was incredibly irritated at the fact that this place didn't have what he had wanted.

|ａｌｅxａｎｄｒａ| T i n e l ↣

Alex peered up when the iron door creaked open and flooded the dungeon room with light. She blinked rapidly as she squinted, her eyes adjusting to the sudden change from darkness. When she saw who it was, she relaxed, yet laid her head back down on her knees stubbornly.
"Just leave it." she answered stoically, her eyes staring blankly at the ground between her legs. "I know I will be dead soon anyway."

|ａｎｎａbｅｌｌｅ| D o r m e r ↢

...I'm only human, just a little human. ______________ _________ __ _ ℓ υ c ι α xн α ℓ α c я є
...I'm only human, just a little human. ______________ _________ __ _ ℓ υ c ι α xн α ℓ α c я є

Lucia set the plate down gently and pushed it a little closer to her. "You are not going to die, I can guarantee it. I will be testifying for you during the trial and Lady Dormer has no solid proof. Besides, I doubt Lady Sophonisba will let you be executed after defending you yesterday." She wasn't sure if her words would help at all, never having been a very good advice giver, and with a heavy metallic thud, she sat down. Perhaps...some small talk would be good? The cell they had put Alexandra in wasn't exactly terrible, but it was dark and for someone who, she assumed, was used to luxurious beds and scented candles every night, it was no surprise the girl would feel down. "I was surprised to find you working here, as a handmaiden even, but now I feel bad that you had to work for Lady Dormer."

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[ R O W A N ]

Rowan pulled herself up into a sitting position. "Find the will to act, hmph, far more easily said than done." she muttered, all the same she was embarrassed for looking so weak in front of essentially a stranger. There was no guarantee he would not try to take advantage of her somehow. She had no one else to turn to of course, so there was little choice.

"I...am not aware of a convenient exit truth be told. When last I was here I collapsed, much like now, and awoke back on the surface with the orb that had been resting on that pedestal." She stood up and wiped her eyes, which stung from being open for so long. She sniffled and looked about the area, and at the distance of the far off root strewn ceiling. Even if she had been full strength she doubted she would be able to lift both of them up and somehow through the barrier there. She hummed to herself and focused on finding a solution for the present problem rather than the one that was on her mind. She placed a claw on the wall and searched for some sort of hidden stair or a rune that would transport them elsewhere through magical means. It was then that a voice from up above caught her attention. It was soft, but distinct, and she could tell someone was casting very familiar magic. Tracer spells to be exact, they had probably tripped an alarm rune the mage above had set somewhere along the trail. Rowan's face went through several emotions in rapid succession, a variety of shock and disgust as she figured out who was looking around in the forest above. Finally she settled into a solid grimace, with her fists clenched at her side, she pulled a cloth scarf from within the folds of her robe, wrapped it about her face and pulled up her hood. She wrapped her arm and hand in cloth bandages and tucked the remainder back into her clothing. She waved G over to her before she called out.

"We are down here! We were caught in a cave in of sorts! Can you help us?"

"Oh! Trapped travelers? Is that what set them off? Yes I can help you! About how far down are you? Give me the distance and I can cast a teleportation! Came the muffled reply. It seemed he hadn't recognized her by voice, not yet anyway.

"We are approximately two towers below you, directly." She shouted back before speaking softly to G, "If you would be so kind, please hide my identity and all our ... activities ... from this man. He means well but ... trust me this will be simpler..."

In the next moment they were standing on the surface before a man with knotwork tattoos up one arm and a sword strapped to his back. His tunic and pants were otherwise plain and unadorned, much like Rowan's robes. His hair and goatee appeared to be naturally and flamboyantly orange.

"There you are! How did you come to be trapped so far below the surface? Are you from about this area? Are you well lass? Your arm appears injured, I am a skilled mage, I could likely repair that for you if you should like." Rowan held her wrapped up arm closer to her chest and pulled the scarf up about her face more. She also did not respond in the slightest. G would have to work their way out of this one.

[ R O W A N ]

The man seemed to smile and nod through the whole explanation Gereth concocted with one hand contemplatively stroking his well trimmed goatee and the other supporting the other arm at the elbow. When he finished he nodded several more times and made some approving mm hmms before speaking.

"I understand very well, it is usually best to move straight through these treacherous woods to your destination rather than dawdling about, I wish you well on your journey..." Then the spellsword suddenly had a glint in his eye and quickly stepped forward, not menacingly but to congenially pat his fellow traveller on the shoulder. The second he made contact his face lost all trace of friendliness, "Undead! Repellendum!" The spell flung G away and knocked Rowan over before they could properly respond.

"You are a cunning construct, are you not. And is she your necromancer or are you undead as well? Who sent you to the mountain? Are you after the village? You will not have it, fiends!" Without awaiting any sort of answer he drew his sword and lunged for the still downed G as Rowan made her way to her feet. She rolled her eyes at the dramatics. He was powerful and skilled as ever but he was not a particularly good fighter in the end for all his intelligence. If he had wanted to strike them down quickly he shouldn't have pushed them back, and if he wanted answers he should have bound them first. Intelligence is not the same as wisdom, she sighed inwardly.

"Moventur in terra," she whispered and directed her will with her right hand, the earth beneath the man's foot suddenly shifted and instead of impaling G he fell on top of him and the rather impressive sword flew from his hands and sunk up to its hilt into a tree. Rowan was quick to snatch it as the man struggled off of G with cries of No! I have touched undead flesh!

"For the love of the Gods, Ash, you are so thick!" Rowan pointed the sword at his throat when he had regained his feet, "Dicere verum!" The man ceased moving the moment she spoke the words, he knew how the sword itself worked, and was now on the receiving end of a binding spell that would not allow him to move or to tell any sort of lie or mistruth. He peered down the blade at the shorter mage with an almost baleful expression before recognition hit him.

"R...Rowan? Where have you been? Why are you covered up like that? Why did you run away?"

It would be so easy to lop off his thick skull right now.

"Why did I run? Why did I RUN!? Oh I know not, mayhap for that mine own teacher did reprimand and shout me down for something I had no control over! Mayhap for that you insisted I ignore a problem and refused to assist or even alleviate my fears leaving me no choice but to leave my home and my beloved village to seek my own solution! MAYHAP for that I did express my feelings to you and you and you did scorn them, or never returned them in any case! You are so thick, Ash, I can barely tolerate speaking with you!" Rowan had tears in her eyes and her shouting was almost certain to draw someone or something's attention. Her body trembled from exhaustion and emotion and she certainly contemplated removing the eyesore her instructor presented to her now. Any love and respect she had held for him was clearly gone.

'I...you had feelings for...? Me? You never said anything of the like! I...what? How can...erp-" The startled and still frozen in place spellsword struggled to figure his way out of this situation, all thoughts of the undead fellow were wiped from his mind as he tried to extricate himself from in front of the blade of his former student. She pressed the blade's point ever so slightly closer to his throat.

"I should remove the problem you present to my goals right here and right now..." She stopped the blade with just a tiny nick on his neck. All the time they had spent together stopped her. She flung the blade away. "But I won't. Just go home, Ash, and leave me be." She stalked off into the woods without either of the people behind her, in the general direction of the path that would lead back down to the horses.

Ash sat down heavily before scrambling for his magic sword and regaining his feet. "What just happened here...?" he asked himself more than anyone else.