[offtopic]~Oof! I finished a thing!...[/offtopic]
~1.Uncharted
Cassy sat at the dining table, with her arms outstretched as she lay her head down upon it. In exhaustion, she closed her eyes and felt her soft, long blonde ringlets fall over her shoulder. It softly tickled her skin as it did so, and she tried to take a peaceful deep sigh to calm herself.
Keeping their home ‘neat and tidy’ in the ever increasing heatwave was becoming ever harder to endure-and her usual tricks to cool down were gradually no longer walking.
After a few moments, she slowly slid her hands down to the edge of the table, and turned her head to the side. The start of the local market could be seen through the window, and as she instead focused her mind, from the frustration to everything else around her, she began to recognise familiar voices.
“
Two malberries for five neahl’s,” she heard Daven call out. Above his deep joyful voice, others could be heard as well. Filling her ears with the mutterings and murmurs of a busy village.
She calmed down gradually, and continued taking deep breaths to soothe the irritation that had plagued her mind since she had woken up that morning. Thyme, her step-brother, had been told to help her-especially as most of the mess had been his own doing. As usual though, his lazy and selfish nature had meant that most of the work had fallen on her own shoulders.
Sliding a hair tie from her wrist, she slid her hair back behind her head into a pony tail-then tied it neatly into a bun. Even though shorter wisps fell back down at the front, it was off her shoulders and back, which was what she had been aiming for.
As soon as she was finished and happy, she grudgingly trudged back to the front of the building she had been avoiding. It was the warmest part of the house, which was why she always tried to avoid it for as long as she could.
Thyne rolled his eyes at her as she stepped inside, knowing what she would say as soon as she did so. All morning he had waited in silence, as he listened to the various noises she made, and in what volume.
Shuffling from walking around. Sweeping from using brushes to clean the floor and shifting the piles of clothes around. Soft grinding noises, from shifting some of the furniture around. Splashing from washing various dishes and moping the floor. Just as he doubted she would be finished any time soon, he had noticed that she had stopped-and knew it was only a matter of time before she came and found him. Sure enough, as soon as she gazed over his almost lifeless lump, she shook her head with disgusted amazement.
“I don’t know why you insist on putting all of this stuff back,” he sighed as he rolled his eyes.
Cassy smoothed out her two thin t-shirts as he spoke, making sure no new holes had appeared as she did so. Both the tops that she was wearing were pale in colour, but they hadn’t always been. Some small sections around the straps, which were sleeves still showed the deep green that it had been before-but with sun damage and general wear they were now several shades lighter.
As she peered down at her skinny legs, covered by a faded and worn pair of shorts, she noted that she would have to add them to the washing pile as well-thanks to all the cleaning and moving around.
She glanced at Thyne momentarily, and peered around the room that he had managed to hide successfully in all morning. The rest of their home had been tidied and cleared as much as she had been able to, and so she defiantly wriggled her toes on the floor and stood her ground the best she could.
“I need to head out, Mathe told us that he wanted the house ready before he returned from the hunting trip. It’s time you put some work in yourself, considering you created most of it on your own anyway,” she shrugged gently. Just as she was about to walk out of the room, she realised that Thyne was inspecting her intently. Unwilling to argue with him, she motioned to the pile of unorganised books she had begun to walk over and turned to leave once more.
“So what do you expect me to do? Huh?” Thyne called out to her as she began to walk away. “It’s your job to clean up you know, not just mine.”
Cassy though, didn’t feel the need to argue. It was never going to be enough for him, for her to do all the work. He would only steal the credit for everything that she had done anyway, and make
her out to be the one who had sat around doing nothing all day.
And so instead, she bit her tongue and carried on. The warm, stale air was becoming hard to endure after working all morning, and she needed some time away from the walls that seemed to be constantly forming around her.
+~+
The stale and stagnant air as Cassy stepped out into the sunlight, caught her off guard. It had been days since she had left her home, and that was only to water the plants just outside in the garden. The local college, where she attended, had closed its doors as the heat increased-leaving many teenagers; like her, unable to concentrate and even attend on certain days.
That left everybody more irritable to be around though, as there were more people to be around during the day.
Strangely, this didn’t bother her all that much. In fact, it gave her a perfect excuse to see people she usually didn’t have a chance to talk to, to which she peacefully smiled as she remembered. It also gave her an excuse to carry on, and not go back inside-like she knew Thyne was hoping she would do.
As soon as Daven saw her walking towards the market, he beckoned her closer happily as he served a customer. Two malberries for the price he was offering, was a really good deal-but it appeared that nobody else thought so.
His wooden cart was still filled to the brim with the large pink and orange vegetables, which surprised her a little.
“You haven’t had many sales of those have you?” she asked politely as soon as she was near enough.
“I’m afraid not, the heat has put off many people from coming outside,” he replied. “I know they have tough skins, but they won’t last long from my stall if nobody buys them.”
Cassy smiled and slid her hand into her pocket as she saw some one else approach them. She watched as they did so, and admired their use of a scarf. It had been placed around the hairline-and tied up at the front, her hair had then been wrapped around in sections. It was allowing it to stay off her shoulders and look pretty stylish at the same time.
“Afternoon Daven,” she said quietly as she neared.
“Jeal, how have you and the boys been? I haven’t seen you around for a fair while.”
“Oh, we’re good thank you. I’ve just been a little busy that’s all,” she replied.
“This is my good friend Cassy,” Daven indicated as he motioned for her to step forward.
Cassy did so slowly, and waved with her free hand. She then pulled out some bronze and copper circular discs, and counted out how much she had. In all she had five copper coins, adding up to five neahls, and three bronze-which meant nine. In all she had fourteen, enough to buy four malberries-almost six.
Slightly disappointed with the amount she had earned, she passed the five smaller ones to Daven, and spoke to Jeal as he turned to his stall.
“I love what you’ve done with your hair,” she admitted. Which allowed the stranger in front of her to blush slightly in response.
“Thank you, I’ve always had a knack for customising and using clothing in strange ways.”
“She really has,” Daven chuckled quietly in agreement.
“You’re making it out to be a bad thing by laughing,” Jeal rolled her eyes playfully.
“No-no, not at all,” he said defensively. “In fact I’ve really enjoyed seeing the progression of some of your ideas,”
“Relax Daven, I’m messing around,” Jeal lightly giggled.
“Oh, oh good-” he said, pausing to pass a net bag to Cassy. The two malberries were inside, and although it strained a little with the weight, the elasticated material was more than enough to support them both.
“Thank you,” she said gratefully. “I may pass through again later on if you have any more,” she offered.
“I’m sure I will do,” Daven sighed. “I’m not sure how much longer they’ll last though if I’m honest with you, if people don’t buy them soon I may have to throw them away.”
Pausing for a moment, he then looked at his cart once more, then glanced back to Jeal and Cassy.
“If you’re around later on, and I still have a cart full of them, I may just pass you one or two if you want them. It’ll mean less dead weight that I need to haul back to my lock up.”
“I’ll make sure to make a detour then,” Cassy smiled in return. “I’m going to leave you to it,” she announced after she saw Jeal’s eyes light up with his offer. “I’m going to see if I can meet up with Reilly before Mathe returns,”
“He’s out with the Korr clan isn’t he? Fighting off the guinn to the north,” Daven asked politely.
“Yes, he should be back tonight or tomorrow though. He sent a message through yesterday that he was on his way,” Cassy replied.
“Well it was nice to meet you,” Jeal said happily.
“And you,” she smiled in return. “Hopefully I’ll see you both soon, what with college closed at the moment it’s nice being able to see everyone during the day again,” she continued joyfully.
Then, as she turned to leave and start walking away-she waved to them both, content and no longer on edge any longer.
~+~
Reilly looked down upon her body and sat, deep in thought, on one of the many hills within Layton’s boundaries. This was one of the only ones though, that gave one of the best unobstructed views on the ‘Calling’s side due to it’s steep incline.
Below her, the ‘Chosen’s side with it’s almost run down, and derelict appearance made her shudder occasionally. It certainly wasn’t as welcoming as the view behind the tall wall that separated the two factions, that was for sure.
Being human had it’s limitations after all, even with all the passing trade that occasionally travelled through, the materials that they had managed to use to build their homes were far less superior. The quality was lower, which meant that there was a certain cut off point, where things never improved-and it was down to quick patch up jobs instead.
The Calling’s side however, was far from that. Everyone over there had some form of magic within them, and so their homes and shops hardly ever showed signs of wear and age. One or two had even managed to rise above the wall’s defences, giving the occupants of them unflattering views of the other side.
It wasn’t this that Reilly was thinking about, nor was she wondering if there were any newer buildings-as she usually did.
She was instead, trying to relive various moments within her life as she traced upon several of the scars that littered her arms and legs.
The heat of the sun had given her skin a soft glow, which illuminated the shiny paler markings on her body. They glittered in the light, reminding her of various adventures that she had been on in the past.
The biggest was on her right leg, and was a jagged cut that climbed from her ankle and reached the bottom of her calf. An adventure into the woods had caused that one, she had managed to lose her balance and fall down a small incline, where jagged rocks and brambles awaited her.
Her brave and defiant nature had seen her take on challenges that no one else would have touched. So it never surprised anyone any longer, that she was athletic and agile. Almost a complete contrast to her best friend; Cassy, which she loved reminding her of.
She traced over one of the smaller scars on her hand gently, reminiscing as she did so once more. The one she was gazing at was achieved by an accident as she was cooking, certainly not a heroic tale that was for sure.
“Have you added any more to your collection?” Cassy called out as she approached.
“No,” Reilly giggled as she looked up. “Though, there isn’t really anything else to do nowadays-other than go on adventures I mean.”
“I knew what you meant,” Cassy sat down beside her and gently rested her head on her shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s been a week already since we’ve been to college,” she mused.
“I can,” Reilly rolled her eyes. “Alder has me working behind the till whilst he makes the set of chairs for a house down our street,” she explained. “Hardly any one has come inside since he started though, it’s been practically dead and I’ve been so bored.”
“But Reil, you’re only saying that because you’d rather be out looking for monsters-”
“-And? What’s so wrong with that as a goal?”
“Nothing,” Cassy laughed. “But only one person knows more about the creatures out there that I know of, and he isn’t exactly easy to talk to. If you
really want to know about them, and go off on your own you’re going to need to speak to him first.”
“I know,” Reilly sighed in defeat. “I’m just so bored here, that’s all,” she admitted.
“I know you are,” Cassy nodded in agreement. “You get so restless and fidgety when you aren’t moving around regularly. It’s a perk of yours I’ve had to get used to.”
“Talking of which, there’s something I want to show you quickly. I hope you’re not in a rush to go home?”
“With Thyne there? No, I can’t say that I am,” she replied shrugging. “Why? What have you managed to find?”
“I’m not sure-follow me,” Reilly said joyfully as she stood up.
Smiling gently, Cassy rose to her feet once more-and stood beside her. There was a very distinctive height difference between them both, with Reilly standing well below her friend’s shoulders. This, among her fitness level, was the clear reason that she was the perfect size to squeeze into smaller spaces.
+~+
Cassy followed Reilly away from the hill, and through a meandering maze of small alleyways between buildings, and under several hedges. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for her to fall behind, but-when she did she saw that Reilly would slow down enough for her to catch up.
The sun’s rays of light and heat were being blocked by all the cool stone surrounding them both, meaning that it didn’t affect them as much as it had done before hand. They were both grateful for this, as it gave them both one less thing to complain about.
A short while later, Cassy realised that Reilly was taking shorter-and less frequent steps, and she copied her as soon as she realised. Then, when she stopped completely and looked as if she was gazing out upon something, she lightly held onto her shoulder and squeezed herself through the narrow gap so she was standing beside her.
Below them both, was a network of run down buildings, with wood panels that had been tacked and nailed to window frames. Even several of the doors had been blocked off, which was really strange to see.
Compared to their side of the wall, this new area that Reilly had found was in a completely unlivable state, which was what stunned Cassy the most.
Just as she had thought she had seen enough though, the soft clatter of horse shoes and grinding noise of wood upon rough terrain caught both of their attention within seconds of each other.
“I just found this part, I didn’t think anyone else was still coming here-I just thought it was an interesting part of the town,” Reilly breathed, with a mixture of panic, excitement and adrenaline.
“It certainly doesn’t look like anyone would rush to come here,” Cassy agreed.
“Well, whoever is coming in this direction, has other ideas,” she pointed out. “There,” Reilly said, gently nudging her friend as she pointed to her left.
Sure enough, a trail of carriages could be seen-being pulled by a number of severely exhausted horses. As soon as Cassy glanced over, she took a step back and gasped. One of them, had her step-fathers crest on the door.
Topic: We, three beautiful warriors. (Read 3245 times)