Shield and Solace: Part 3

12th of Cylus 719

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Praetorum
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Shield and Solace: Part 3





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12th of Cylus, Arc 719

It was the fishing gear, more than anything else Praetorum had brought, that turned out to be the most helpful. All of the adult survivors of the storm were at least adequate hunters, but one, a bijaq nicknamed Tess, was an accomplished fisherman to boot. On the first trial she went out fishing, she brought back a brace of small fish, each filled to the brim with tiny eggs; on the second, she brought back what looked like an over large leaf, but turned out to be a flatfish of some sort. And on the third trial...

"She's been gone a while." Rorik muttered, worrying at his bottom lip.

"It's only been a few breaks." Kira told him, setting up a cooking fire on the damp sand. The nature of the tidal marsh meant that they could only cook during low tide, which in turn meant that Tess had to go quite a bit further to find a suitable fishing spot. It was less dangerous than hunting the various animals and monsters of Maiden's Refuge, but still risky.

Praetorum said nothing, busy plucking a heron one of the others had caught. Most of the children were still inside the ship, playing or napping, but a couple were hovering around as the adults prepared dinner. Allie and her brother Tony were working on the other wing, plucking out feathers one by one, occasionally throwing them at each other. Derry, the part Avriel boy, was also sitting with them, although he'd declined to help pluck the bird, his own feathers fluffing up at the thought.

"I'm just saying, if she doesn't show up by the time we're done, maybe...." Rorik trailed off.

"If she doesn't show up. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Do you really think Tess might not come back?" Derry asked, staring up at Praetorum with worried wide eyes.

"She did say she wanted to catch a lot of fish this time, that's probably why she's taking so long." He assured the boy. "We don't have to worry yet."

It was a bit of a hopeless platitude. Asking Derry not to worry was like asking the sun not to rise—it did happen, but only very rarely. So under Praetorum's watchful eye, the boy worried as Kira finally started the fire, as Praetorum finished preparing the heron to roast, as they set the bird on the fire.

By the time the bird was done cooking, even Kira was starting to get concerned. "It's been too long." She muttered, carving the bird into pieces for everyone. "After we're done—"

A voice called out from the trees, interrupting her. "Sorry I'm late, spent ages fighting with this absolutely massive trout."

An indistinct figure appeared in the shadow of the trees, and Derry leaped to his feet. "Tess!" He cried out, and barreled towards the figure.

"Derry, wait!" Praetorum scrambled to his feet, chasing after the boy. He hadn't forgotten Kira's warning, that some of the creatures in this place could mimic common. The boy went charging through the trees, shoving away foliage, nearly tripping over a patch of mushrooms as he made a beeline for the shadow.

Praetorum put on a burst of speed, scooping up the boy in one arm while the other pointed his scythe towards—

—a very surprised looking Tess, holding a huge fish in both arms. Derry wiggled out of his grip as Praetorum breathed out a sigh of relief, and threw himself at the woman. "We were worried you wouldn't come back!" He wailed, as Praetorum herded them back towards the safety of the fire.

There was a lot of scolding as the trout cooked, and Derry very sheepishly promised not to run off again before wedging himself as close to Tess as he could. "He's very attached to her." Praetorum noted to Kira, popping a crisp fin into his mouth.

"Mhm. They got close on the journey here. I think she's planning on taking him. Mentioned something about her partner wanting a child for a while."

Praetorum glanced over at Tess, looking fondly down at the boy under her arm as he picked at his food. "You're probably right." He smiled at that. "Best of luck to them."
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            Praetorum
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            Re: Shield and Solace: Part 3





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            A panicked wail jolted Praetorum from his sleep, and he jerked upright, head whipping frantically back and forth. Something reared up in the corner of his vision, and he threw himself to the side, snatching up his scythe before he realized it was just Sivan, raising her head. He panted, his hide prickling with fear as another scream rent the air, this time from behind him.

            The figures moving behind him were hazy, indistinct, and inexplicably menacing, pouncing on a flailing figure. Monsters? Undead? He took a step forwards, his breathing heavy, and another smaller figure burst out from the wiggling, squirming huddle of creatures and stumbled out of the ship with a cry, taking off towards the trees.

            An animal? No. Praetorum gritted his teeth, and sank his claws into his arm, the sudden pain helping him to focus on the fleeing creature, to see it properly.

            Tiny wings, fluttering frantically. Derry.

            Praetorum staggered after the boy, ignoring the voice in his head screaming about danger. He was unarmored, shieldless, and there was something wrong with his vision, with his body, but Derry was running out into Maiden's Refuge alone and screaming. Praetorum's head swam as he blundered into the forest, shadows flickering at the edge of his vision. Branches and shrubs and leaves all snagged at him, and he slashed at them with his scythe, parting the undergrowth so he could get through. His heart pounded in his chest, his mind conjuring images of soldiers, fractures, monsters, all coming up behind him as he ran.

            Something jumped at him, and his head snapped to the side to look, arm coming up to protect himself. Only there was nothing there, only branches waving in the wind. When he looked back, Derry was gone. Heart skipping a beat, Praetorum forced himself into a sprint, looking around frantically for the boy.

            A shriek sounded to his left, and Praetorum didn't so much skid to a stop as he did slam his shoulder into a tree, frantically changing directions to race towards the sound. His thighs burned with exertion, his shoulder throbbed, and his stomach did a flip as a shadow loomed at his side, some massive bear or dragon or lion come to devour him. But he had Derry's white hair in his sights, and he forced himself to ignore everything else as he lunged for the boy, tackling him to the ground.

            The boy screamed and fought in his grip, trying desperately to escape, and Praetorum shook him. "Derry, Derry, it's me, it's Praetorum, you're safe, you're fine." He rasped out. The boy couldn't hear him, or perhaps just couldn't understand. Twisting around, the child shoved at Praetorum's arm, then froze, staring into the forest. Praetorum followed his gaze, and shuddered, locking eyes with a huge, shadowed beast, a horrific cross between a wolf and a lion. The boy in his arms let out one last whimper of fear, and fainted.

            It isn't real, it isn't real, this is a hallucination of some sort. He told himself, trembling like a leaf as he pointed his scythe at the creature. Then the beast leaped at him, and all thoughts of its unreality slipped from his mind. Letting out a panicked yell, Praetorum activated his Taithir mark, dropping to the ground and wrapping his body around the boy in his arms. Scales formed over his hide, a fraction of a trill before powerful claws raked at his leg.

            Praetorum hissed in pain, kicking out at the creature. His foot connected, and he rolled over, sitting up with his other arm still wrapped around the unconscious boy. But the thing recovered quickly, and lunged at him again. In his terror, the only thing Praetorum could do was grab his scythe, and slash at the creature.

            From his position on the ground, his one handed grasp on the weapon was tenuous, and his slash barely nicked the creature's chest before it was on him. In a blind panic, he opened his mouth, and chomped down on the first thing he could see. There was a screech, and the creature jerked away, leaving Praetorum with a mouthful of blood and fur.

            Spitting it out, he cradled Derry protectively as the creature fled, his heart still pounding like a drum. Once he was certain the thing was gone, he pressed a hand to his chest, trying to force his heart rate down through sheer force of will. As the scales faded from his hide, he stood, and hissed in pain as his clawed leg complained loudly, bleeding profusely. Shifting Derry to his other arm, he ripped off a strip of material from his shirt, holding it to the wound. It hurt like hell. But he could still walk, which was something. Tying the wad of cloth to his leg, Praetorum began to retrace his steps, slowly, but surely limping back towards the ship. Fortunately, following his own tracks wasn't hard at all. He'd crashed through the undergrowth like a bull in a pottery shop, after all.

            Derry was still unconscious when Praetorum found the ship again. Inside, the children were all huddled around Tess, slumped in a chair with her head in her hands. Rorik was kneeling by her side, holding up a ladle of water for her. He nearly dropped it when he caught sight of Praetorum, leg and muzzle all bloodied, and hurried over to them.

            "What happened?" He asked, taking Derry from Praetorum's arms. "Tess starting screaming and panicking, and then once we got her calmed down we realized you two were gone. The others went out to look for you."

            Praetorum staggered over to the wall, and slid down it to the ground. "Some sort of hallucination." He rasped out. "Everything was terrifying, like every shadow was about to attack me. Hard to recognize anyone. Probably the same for Tess and Derry. Kid went running out, I followed after him. Got into a fight with a wolf or a cat or something." His eyes started to droop shut, his breathing evening out. "Think... I'll just..."
            Last edited by Praetorum on Sat Feb 16, 2019 12:34 am, edited 1 time in total. word count: 1032
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                      Praetorum
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                      Re: Shield and Solace: Part 3





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                      When Praetorum woke, there was a blanket over him, and a bandage on his leg. Kira looked over when he sat up, and passed him a bowl of what turned out to be stew. "Stitched up that cut as best we could. Not as bad as I was expecting, considering you were wrangling with a tempered cougar." Praetorum blinked at her. "Guess you can call that revenge." She smiled, gesturing at the bowl. He looked down thoughtfully at the meat floating in the stew, then shoveled it into his mouth. "Looked like you already got a mouthful of it though. Hell of a chunk you took from it."
                      He shrugged, swallowing his food. "How's everyone?" He rasped out. His throat was sore, like he'd been screaming all night. Which was entirely possible, he supposed. His mind had been very hazy while he was hallucinating. Speaking of which: "And do you know why the three of us went..." he made a vague hand gesture.

                      "You're the worst injured of everyone." She considered for a moment. "Along with Tess's pride. Kid's sprained an ankle, but that's about it. As for why that happened... it was mushrooms."

                      Praetorum gave her an incredulous look. "Only thing you three had in common was that you all ran out into the marsh during dinner, so we retraced your steps. Rorik recognized some of the mushrooms on that path; Dreadcaps. If you touch them, they give off these spores, that stick to your skin and make you freak out. Derry got the worse of it, and then he was attached to Tess and probably spread them onto her. So you more or less kept it together because you got a smaller dose, since Derry ran through the spores first, and you're a lot larger anyways."

                      Praetorum groaned, and poured the rest of his stew into his mouth. "Yeah." Kira nodded. "The others are out getting rid of the ones nearby."

                      "I can't believe" he sighed "that of all the things in this swamp that have tried to kill us, it was a mushroom that came closest to succeeding."

                      "Don't say that just yet." Kira laughed, extending her hand to help him up. "There's still time."
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                                Yrmellyn Cole
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                                Re: Shield and Solace: Part 3

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                                Praetorum
                                I love the slow and unnerving way you build up the tension. A few days when they just cope. Then ... scare! Ouch, one person is missing and for one scary moment it seems like a hostile being pretending to be the missing person will snatch a child and a nasty fight seems about to start, but it turns out to really be the missing person, returning with food. So they cook, and eat, and wait for unknown terror... This is really good. Can't wait to read next thread. Enjoy your rewards!


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