[center][h3]Auriëlle[/h3][/center]
Auriëlle had expected a few restless nights on her route towards Sarren. To her own surprise, she slept pretty well. For only one night she had poked the burning wood of a campfire while coming up with what she would tell Sarren. In the end, she settled for her personal half-truth and every night she went to bed. When she entered the land of Vanhym she just kept walking around. Until Sarren finally found her.

His demon was by his side again. Though this time it had a bird-like beak. It wasn’t wet with blood though. “You’ve returned.” Sarren said, as he was patting the side of his demon-like it was an actual dog.

“I have. Safe and sound.” Auriëlle said. “I suppose we best sit down somewhere and talk.”

Sarren just offered her a nod of agreement and led the way into the bushes. They followed a small hunter’s path until they were deeper into the woods. Where she eventually reached Sarren and his two apprentices’ their camp. They all sat down and first began to make dinner. It was a simple rabbit stew. The meat was lean but good enough for something on the road. When the final bits of stew were passed out and consumed, everyone put their bowls down and turned to Auriëlle.

“There’s nothing special in Nallan.” She casually said, as she took the last slurp of her stew and put it down too. She was sitting on a fallen tree trunk. “Just another creep on a throne. I can’t tell you how many of that sort I’ve met.”

Sarren looked disappointed. The two apprentices relieved. “What about Parn? Is he in danger?” Sarren pushed on. Clearly the Servant wouldn’t just accept nothing was happening.

“He’s alright from what I could see. Very attached to his queen. And I really do mean [i]very[/i].” Auriëlle said, which wasn’t a lie. During her short stay in Nallan, she had seen how men looked at the queen. She could see that primal urge within them. It was so focused on Nalla that very few of them would give Auriëlle the time of day. Which had been a pleasant experience for once. “There were pots.” Auriëlle continued. Sarren looked up again. “They’re for preserving meat though. She’s quite ingenious in that way really. Salt’s so expensive. With those pots, she can keep meat fresh for much longer. I hope the runes of those pots will be spread out.” She noted absentmindedly as she poked the fire with a stick again. Mostly for her own amusement.

“Ah.” Was the only thing Sarren said for a long time. His apprentices apparently knew well enough what to do on their own. They gathered the bowls and went to clean them in the nearby creek. Sarren remained seated, looking at the ground. He had dispelled his demon dog some time before dusk had set in.

Finally, without saying anything, he got up and went to his tent. The apprentices each went to their own tents as well. Leaving Auriëlle free to lay down her own sleeping bag or walk away. It clearly didn’t matter to them.
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But it had mattered to Auriëlle. She had seen the same defeated look many years ago, when she was still doing odd jobs. It wasn’t the look of resignation. Tomorrow, when the sun got up again, Sarren would either look for someone else to discover the truth or go to Nallan himself. One thing was sure though: he wouldn’t quit. Which meant Auriëlle’s work wasn’t done yet.

When the moon was getting high again she pulled the copper knife from her belt. She had sharpened it for three evenings in a row. Quietly she walked up to the first apprentice’s tent and opened the flap. There she was, Surreth. Auriëlle remembered her name. The girl looked sweet and much too young to be camping in a tent in the middle of nowhere. She put the knife’s cold edge on her throat and with a single, inelegant but quick motion she cut the girl’s throat. Surreth jolted awake but Auriëlle covered her mouth with her gloved hand and pushed her down again. There was no real fight in her. Just moments later she stopped moving at all. A few seconds later all life vanished from her eyes as blood pooled beneath her. That was one.

Auriëlle crawled out of the tent and quietly went to the next apprentice’s tent. When she opened the flap, he was gone. “shit.” She whispered to herself. If there was even just one witness, they’d be on her tail. She tried to find tracks but she had never been the best of hunters. The dark night only made that harder. Especially when only the Purple Moon was high in the sky. Auriëlle skulked around the campfire until she heard a twig crack. She looked up and came face to face with Kannek standing in the nearby bushes. He spotted the bloodied, copper knife in her hand and opened his mouth.

The sorceress reached out with her powers. The nearest tree to Kannek lashed out with its thinner branches. Like a lash they wrapped around his throat. Choking him off. He grabbed the branch. Something sizzled and smoked in his hand. Auriëlle began to bridge the distance between them. The hold of the root weakened as fire ate through it. He was nearly free. Another branch grabbed his other arm. It didn’t matter. The branch around his throat broke its hold. He opened his mouth again. Then he tasted copper.

Auriëlle had jammed her knife through his throat. “I’m sorry.” She said. It was genuine. She did not derive pleasure from killing him or Surreth. But this was her one chance to have an actual safe home in a kingdom where she knew the crown’s dirty little secrets. She wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of that. Well…maybe one thing.

The life fled the eyes of Kannek very quickly. The branch that held him up released him slowly, so Auriëlle could guide his body down on the ground. Her blade was bent all out of shape. It would be cutting anything this night anymore. That was fine. When kannek was down on the ground she got up again and walked towards Sarren’s tent and opened it. There he laid, sleeping ever so peacefully. There was only one way she could kill him fast enough. She crawled up behind him and held her hand over his head. “Forgive me.” She whispered. To all things now. To the gods, to Sarren, to herself. Yet the necessity was there. She took a deep breath and summoned the power to her palm. Remembering that what she was about to use wasn’t fire. It was the most perfect manifestation of destruction.

The wave of disintegration traveled fast across Sarren’s body. The man never felt pain. All that remained were bones. Auriëlle didn’t release a tear but her heart wasn’t agreeing with what she had done. The cursed words of Oraelia echoed in her mind. Had there been a third option? Maybe that what she should have done all those nights. Ponder upon her options. It was too late now.

Outside the tent she began to dig a grave. Not with magic but with a spade. It would take longer. Much longer. But that was the goal. It gave her time to think. Would it even have mattered if there was a third option? What did it even matter? Maybe this was her choice. Yes, it didn’t always make her feel good. But neither did other people always feel good. In this life she had to deal with killing those who didn’t deserve to die. If she had been a farmer, she would’ve had to deal with hunger and the death of her children. There would always be something. At least with this life, she could work through the suffering.

By the time the sun was well and above the horizon, two corpses and a skeleton had been buried deep in a hole. The tents and everything they owned had been buried with them. The only thing that marked their presence were the carvings of Auriëlle in the three trees surrounding the overturned earth that she had covered with some moss and the fallen log she had sat upon. She told herself that she’d visit the place sometimes. Just like she would have visited the graves of those who fought and died in Jalka.

With her job done, she followed the hunting path back to the main dirt road and headed back to Nalla.

[hider=Summary]
Auriëlle meets up with Sarren again. They travel to his camp and Auriëlle sells her lie. It was somewhat successful but Auriëlle realizes that the Servant will not lay the subject to rest.

She decides to kill him and his apprentices. Surreth, the girl, is killed first with a quick slit throat. Kannek has more trouble. He wasn't in his tent and spotted Auriëlle with her bloodied copper knife. Before he can scream, Auriëlle manages to choke him with a tree branch. Kannek tries to burn through the tree branch. He succeeds but he's literally a second too late. Auriëlle was able to jam her knife through her throat. Though in the process her knife is rendered unusable.

Finally she kills a sleeping Sarren by using her disintegration spell. When she's done, she digs a pit with a spade instead of magic and dumps the bodies and the whole camp in it. All the while she ponders upon Oraelia's words and what the goddess would think of her now. Finally she decides to go back to Nalla.
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[hider=Prestige]
[b]Post Length: [/b] 7.8K characters
+ 4 Prestige >> Auriëlle
- 1 Prestige >> Auriëlle: Using Disintegration spell
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