An interview

Messages for the Warlocks' Guild
Yinglua
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2018 4:15 pm
Guild: Warlocks

An interview

Post by Yinglua »

Screams fill the air, circling all around her. She has long forgotten if they are hers or Alices. Oh poor Alice, she was once such a lovely handmaiden, what a lovely voice she had. Now there is just blackness where her beautiful face used to be. More screams, blood and spittle come from her mouth. So they are my screams…

...Laying in a cold, damp cellar she hears whimpering not far off “Alice” whispering softly “Alice are you here?”. Boot steps can be heard stomping on the stone of the hallway outside the cell. “Pipe down in there, or else I’ll send in de Wyrms”. Shuddering she rubs her hands along her legs where the Wyrms were last attached to her. Dozens of teeth leaving behind dozens of scars.

Yinglua listens intently for anymore noise outside, she hears nothing. Sitting up tears the rags she is wearing slightly more, jagged scars young and old crisscross her frail body. A sickly ooze from a failed experiment drips slowly out of what used to be her ear. How many years has it been? She lost count around 45 or so she thinks. Blinking away the tears that form in her eye, not tears from emotion...no, those left many decades ago. Tears from the milky haze that was once her eye form constantly, she moves over to where she thought she heard the whimpering.

Resting her hands gently down, she feels Alice’s leathery wings, the whimpering stops “quiet now Alice, we do not want to Wyrms. Yes, that’s it, quiet now”. Alice taking her arm into her mouth bites down and starts to drink, none too gently. “That’s it, shhhh”.


Time passes, as time does.


It’s not night time and if it is day time it is very overcast. Rumbling along in the back of a covered wagon, she hadn’t been outside of the compound in….? The thought escapes her, as she tries to peer outside the windows that are filmed over, hoping for a glimpse of something, anything. Oh to see a tree again.

The wagon stops with a sudden lurch, hearing a gruff voice “What is the meaning of this!?” A response spoken to low to distinguish what was said and then “Ha! Do ye know who I work for, she’d be none to pleased you know.” Alice creeps over, grabbing at my arm “Not now, now is not a good time” growling Alice gets more aggressive in her approach. SMACK! “Not now I said”. Breath leaving her, that was far too loud, clearly someone heard. Alice retreats to the far corner whimpering. Listening intently for her captors to come in and discipline her for her noise making...nothing happens.

When her heart comes down out of her throat in fear, she is able to hear what sounds like metal against metal clanging solidly outside the wagon. Grunts and groans, then all is silent. A smell of copper reaches her nose. Crawling on all fours she hurries over to Alice “play dead, like you do with the wyrms, play dead for our lives may depend on it”.

Just as she’s laying her head down to heed her own advice, the door to the wagon opens, even with her eyes closed the light is blinding. Oh to feel sunlight on her skin…

A gruff voice speaks, one she doesn’t know “Should be riches in here I tell ya! RICHES!” Several other men laugh, their laughter dieing on their lips are the wagon is opened. The smell that wafts over the men sends two of them stumbling off the back of the wagon, rechting can be heard outside. “Well, well, well, what have we here?” says a smooth voice. A boot nudges Yinglua, she doesn’t move, hardly any breath leaves her body.

“Get in there Samson, get whatever, that is out so I can look at it properly, I’m not seeing any of the “RICHES” you said there would be in this wagon.” The gruff voice of Samson “Boss, I can’t..I can n’t go in there” Smooth as silk, deadly as a viper “You will, or you will meet the same fate as our friend here.”

None to gently Samson drags me out first, thudding against each step of the wagon and then the ground I’m dragged to grass. Grass. I’m laying in grass, I just want to move my hands through it...ALICE, oh no, Alice please please please play dead as I said. Thudding can be heard, once, twice, three times and then a shadow falls over me as Alice is now next to me.

Samson says “Okay boss, dey be out now, I don n’t needin to go back in there am I?” The silky smooth voice says “Yes, go dig through the straw for MY riches”. Grumbling can be heard as the wagon creeks under Samsons weight as he goes back in a third time. Poor man, it is rather foul in there.

“Merick, you ever see something quite like this?” Merick replies from a ways off “Na Boss, never, have I ever seen nuffin like that, is it even human?” I can feel the soft leather of a boot against my head rolling it over “Why I’ll be, it’s not human, it’s an Elf or, what used to be an Elf anyways.” Looking over what he believes to be a tattered and abused corpse of an elf, he has never seen such scarring and disfigurement. Never in his dozens of years living in the shadows. Nor will he ever forget how horribly scarred and disfigured the elf is. Standing abruptly, he turns, “leave the bodies along the roads for the carrions to eat whatever the wolves don’t drag off, although I’m not even sure they’ll eat this one. Merick, take the wagon to the fence and get what you can for it and the horses.” Looking over he sees the man who was driving the wagon already looted of everything but his small clothes “Good, we’ll get something out of this yet.”

Feet can be heard shuffling, horses whiney, leather creeks, hooves clop off and then silence save for the buzzing of flies. “Alice, are you alright?” whimpering “Yes I know, but I think our ruse worked, come here Alice, yes, that’s right”. Now slurping can be heard over the drone of flies. Looking around, there are trees and grass and fresh air. Alice’s slurping stopped, just her murmering of sleep is all that remains. “We must find a place to stay, a food.” muttering an incantation she is surprised to have remembered, shadows pull in around her and Alice, she shakes Alice awake and they make their way down the road towards a town that Yinglua hasn’t seen in a very long time.

Skulking through town goes well, until it doesn’t. A town guard hears a stone rattling away from a shadow and as he inspects it, he sees through Yinglua’s spell. “HALT! Who goes there?” speaking softly “Just wary travellers in need of assistance.” “Nay, no travellers I know sneak around like this, make yourself seen, or I’m coming in spear first!” Sighing, I step out of the shadows, Alice trying to pull me back. Holding my head high to look as dignified as I can in my rags “We are wary travellers and we do need aid.” Looking taken aback the guard takes two steps backwards, covering his mouth “What are you? What do you mean we?” Alice steps out of the shadows, darkness where he face should be, leathery wings with scars from tip to tip, she stands idly behind me. “DEMON” the guard takes another step back and starts to run. “Well, that didn’t go well, I think it’s time we leave this place.”
Days go by, as days do

Another town looms in the distance “perhaps a more direct approach is what we need, what do you say Alice?” whimpering “yes well I guess you are right, better safe than sorry”. Walking into this town, she slips past the guards easily as they are busy with a game of bones. Walking quietly from street to street she smells something at first, then an abomination turns the corner. She steps out in front of it. “You there” she says with power in her voice “Take me to your masters”. The abomination stops, regards her, turns and starts off in the opposite direction. She and Alice follow.

Sitting in a dark room, on a plush chair Yinglua leans back “And that is how I came to be here”. A presence sitting across from her nods, barely perceptible in the darkness of the room. “Good, very good” he says in a deep rumbling voice.

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