the inkeep

28. Innkeep. Brother of Atticus, Garrett, and Elias. Prometheus.

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

In the Dark of the Night || Elysa & Blaise

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

Elysa arched her eyebrow in curiosity first, but then she couldn’t help to feel a little bit… Flustered. And a bit surprised. But, it is not like he didn’t have a point there. She knew no ghosts would come to her if she had company, and she hoped it would be the same with his problem. “Do you think it could help you with your nightmares?” Elysa asked, a bit more concerned for him than she should be.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise shrugged. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, “I’ve never...Slept near someone after I was imprisoned,” he said, his tongue tracing his bottom lip. He knew Elias would come in his room at night to try to soothe him, but he didn’t know if it worked.

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

In the Dark of the Night || Elysa & Blaise

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

Elysa nodded in understanding. Indeed, they were both everything but ordinary. Blaise with his nightmares, and herself with her literal demons. Hearing the latter, she chuckled humorlessly. “You can let me rest all you’d like, but rest assured that is not what I will be getting. I am quite used to sleeping little hours now.” She added with a sigh.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise watched her for a moment. “If--If you want--I could--” He cut himself off, trying to figure out how to say it respectfully. “You needn’t stay tonight alone,” he said quietly, a blush rousing in his cheeks.

[milothedeceit]

“Could you tone it down a bit with your whining? Some of us are trying to care about the woes of dead fish. All of them have to be mourn you know. Please and thank you.”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

“And here I thought my friend would sympathize with me while I mourn the loss of my profits,” he muttered, though good-naturedly, to Milo. Food was hard to come by before this--he could only imagine how impossible it’d be now.

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

“Sea monsters? What is next? Dragons?” Elysa exhaled loudly, shaking her head.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise clutched his side--even a month later, his ribs still hadn’t healed entirely properly yet. “Careful, Elysa--each day, we think this world cannot get any crazier. And yet, here we are.”

[colette-filo]

She hit it. She felt herself make contact with whatever that voice was. It was real then. The shadows lurking in the back of her mind that could follow her were real. They could find a way to crawl out of her mind into reality. For a moment she felt sane. That she wasn’t crazy for feeling this way. It made sense. it all made sense. But it grabbed her, it could touch her. She felt its grip on her arms and she wretched them trying to get them off. “No!” she yelled. It called out her name again. But, it was different. Something was different. She stopped fighting for a moment and the voice was gone. The shadows disapeared and it was only her and Blaise. “N…No they were here! They were just here.” she said looking around for where they might be hiding. “Blaise…did you see them? Did you see it?”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise stared at her for a long moment, letting his hands fall off her arms; if she was truly that frightened, he didn’t want to restrain her, for it might hurt her more. “See who?” he asked gently. “I don’t see anyone, Colette. I only see you and me.”

[colette-filo]

Another sleepless night was in store for Colette. She tossed and turned for most of the night hoping she could trick her body into sleep. But nothing was working and slowly they were coming back. The voices crept into her head, whispering things to her. She couldn’t stay here in her room, as she felt like the walls were closing in on her. “Clotho.” She heard the voice call out to her. Colette found some semblance of clothing that wasn’t her nightgown so she could walk outside. The voices followed her through the halls, creeping up on her. “Nowhere to go Clotho.” It spoke again. Stumbling out into the streets she tried to focus on anything else. The cold night air. The smell of the ocean. Anything but the voices. Her pace quickly turned into a run. “Can’t run from me, Clotho” She was sprinting now, through the streets. She was being followed. They were real now and it followed her, it chased after her as she ran. As she turned the corner she knew they were here. “You’re mine.” Without thinking she swung out and hit the voice following her, unknowing to her that there was no voice. And that she had hit someone real. “LEAVE ME ALONE.” She screamed.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise recognized that flash of blonde hair anywhere. It wasn’t safe for her to be out alone, and since his own attack, he’d taken to carrying a sword. (Though he hardly knew how to use it.) He followed behind her at a good distance, careful not to scare her by approaching too quickly, but when she broke out into a run, he knew he couldn’t hesitate. He followed suit, running behind her so he wouldn’t lose her. He wasn’t able to stop his momentum in time when she paused at the corner, so when she struck, she hit him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards a little.

“Colette!” he hissed, grabbing hold of her arms. “Colette, it is me. It is Blaise. What are you doing out here so late?”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

ambush

[pamela-nereida]

She ignored his protests and complaints, knowing that despite the pain of getting to the inn, it was better he was there than lying out on the ground. For all she knew, the men who did this to him might come back for a second round of assault. Of course if they came now, she was sure she could handle a few, likely drunk, guards, but she didn’t want to risk it.

Her eyes hardened when he revealed that they were the very same guards who had tortured him during his imprisonment. They were the ones who made him jump whenever he was touched without warning, who’d left scars on his mind as well as his body. “Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that the king would hire trash like them,” she grumbled more to herself than Blaise. Ever since her most recent nightmare, she’d had a strange sense of resentment towards the king and the royals that she couldn’t explain.

“Blaise no,” she warned as he gave out. “I know it hurts, but we have to get you inside.” She shifted her weight to try to keep him on his feet. She could be caring at times, but she was no doctor, and her medical experience happened on the field or right after battle with battle hardened pirates. She wasn’t conditioned to let him rest. She’d drag him to the inn if she had to. “We’re almost there, you can see the Inn ahead. You can rest once we’re there. I’m not risking those men coming back for you.” she said as she kept moving, her arm around his waist and his slung over her shoulder.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise hazarded a laugh at her comment, nodding his head a little. “A corrupt King would have corrupted guards,” he replied before inhaling sharply, trying desperately to move alongside her. He glanced around them, wondering if anyone had been around to hear that. The last thing he needed was to be arrested for treason and be thrown back together with his captors on a permanent basis. He had a feeling he wouldn’t survive a second round of it.

He leaned on her further, trying to use his left leg to support himself somewhat, for it had received less of the beating than his right. He wondered where the bruises would fall this time--if the deep purple would grace his his body, like that of a King wearing his royal colors infused with his skin. “It hurts, Pam,” he said, as if she didn’t know, “It hurt just laying on the ground, let alone moving now.” He looked up to see the inn nearing them, and he felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, if he would ever be safe there.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

ambush

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

Elysa offered her arm to him, helping him sit up, and frowned in concern as she examined the full extent of the state he was in. She uncorked the flask, and handed it to Blaise, shaking her head at his question. “No, I haven’t seen him there.”

Her frowned deepened the longer she observed him. “Who did this to you? What happened?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking, her voice concerned as she inspected how serious his injuries might be. Her horse was standing relatively close to them, and she wondered whether she could somehow get Blaise on the horse. He didn’t really look like he could walk.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise groaned as he sat up, taking the flask from her and taking a few drinks from it. “Thank you,” he breathed, both in response to the water and the news of Eli. It put him at ease to know that he’d have some time to recover, even if it were only a night, before Eli saw him.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, the blood smearing across the white fabric. “Guards,” he said, “I don’t know how many. Five, six--they were drunk. They were--” He glanced around suddenly, as if he were afraid they would come back. “They were the ones who tortured me when I was imprisoned.” Though Blaise couldn’t see all of them at the time there were, in fact, seven guards: five of which participated in beating while the other two stood lookout.

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

In the Dark of the Night || Elysa & Blaise

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

“I don’t know. Maybe there is. I haven’t really tried anything else. It comes to me instinctively.” She sighed, shaking her head slightly. “This all must sound so insane to you, doesn’t it?” She asked quietly, fidgeting a bit, and toying with the strings on the back of her corset. Elysa never really thought about other ways of alleviating the pain. She tries keeping herself as occupied as humanely possible, but at times that doesn’t help either.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

He rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Not as much as it might to an ordinary person,” he replied. He didn’t mean to imply that they were both freaks, but they certain didn’t behave like an ordinary person would under any circumstances. “Perhaps I ought to let you rest.”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Greek Week

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

“Just as it’s not for me to visit the world of the living, though not by my choice.” She softly sighed, before a chuckle escaped her lips. “Everyone has heard of everyone. I mean, we are all gods. It’s a bit impossible not to know people.” Makaria arched her eyebrow, titling her head. “I have heard of the Creator of Humans, and I am delighted to finally meet you, in person.”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

“The pleasure is all mine, Makaria,” he replied. “I must admit, for doting upon my creation so, I rarely have the time to visit them on earth either. The Fates see to their future, while I see to furthering the race.”

[briar-minett-blog]

Briar softly shrugged, frowning in thought. “I haven’t seen her, but it could be because there’s too many people inside.” She hummed in thought and nodded. “Yes, I know what she does, she told me about her work.” And her boss. “If that is the case, do you know where she might be then? I brought her something and I’d hate to see it go to waste.” The scribe explained.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise lifted a brow at her, wondering if she had spoken poorly about her work. Did Elysa feel she was being mistreated? “She might be at home, with Noah,” he said, “If she’s not here, and she’s not at home, I’m afraid I don’t know where she might be. But you can always leave it here, and I will ensure that she gets it.”

[emilie-rosier]

“Then I’ll let you go. I don’t want to be the reason you stay up any longer.” With a wide smile, Emilie turned around, walking back the way she came. At the door, she turned. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise nodded and lifted a hand to her in a wave. “Soon,” he promised, smiling at her.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

ambush

[pamela-nereida]

The Inn was closing for the night, and with Blaise still not having shown up to close it down, Pamela assumed he’d gone home and to bed. She made her last rounds and was just about to lock up when she saw a figured crumpled a ways up the road. Knowing very well that it could be a thief’s ploy to rob someone, she touched the knife at her side to make sure it was in place then wandered out to see what was going on.

“Hello?” she called as she approached the figure. “Are you alright?” There was still no word, and the way it was crumpled, she couldn’t see the face. It was only when she moved closer that she saw it was Blaise. A look of concern immediately flickered over her face and she ran to his side, scanning him to do a cursory check. She was no doctor, but at the very least it didn’t look like anything was outwardly broken. It was easy to see however that he’d gotten a good beating.

“Shh,” she shushed him as she took his arm and placed it around her shoulders, lifting him as carefully as she possibly could. She wasn’t a particularly tall woman, but her lifestyle had made her strong, and she managed to carry much of his weight with relatively minimal difficulty considering their height differences.

“You can have water when we get you to the Inn. It isn’t far. I want you to tell me what happened.” Though her voice was as soothing as she could make it, the look in her eyes was murderous. It felt like she was losing faith in people every day.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

“Pamela,” he breathed, the corners of his lips turning upward in the smallest smile he could manage. “No, no don’t--” he said before crying out in pain as she lifted him, loudly, unashamedly. He knew there was no painless way for him to get back to the inn, but he hadn’t the time to prepare himself for that, for being hauled to his feet.

His knees wanted to give way beneath him; he leaned heavily on her to compensate, figuring she wouldn’t have tried to lift him all by herself if she couldn’t actually get him back to the inn. His feet hardly moved before him, his legs feeling stiff and cramped from where he’d been kicked, especially in his thighs.

“The guards,” he whispered, grimacing as he moved, the uncomfortable ache in his side reactivated by his beating. “I couldn’t see all of them...But their voices...I could never forget those voices. They were the men who tortured me while I was imprisoned.” He stopped, inhaled sharply, and grasped his side, his head spinning from the pain. “I can’t--” His legs gave out beneath him and he fell back to the ground.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

ambush

[daughter-oftheunderworld]

Darkness seemed to be the only time when Elysa would feel both unnerved and at certain peace, especially since that dream of hers. She wasn’t home yet, something nudging her to postpone returning to Noah as much as she possibly could. The threat, or warning, that thing whispered to her, made her reluctant to hang around her brother, fearing there might be something she could involuntarily do to harm him. So she lingered at the inn, clearing tables and fidgeting to find more work or something else to do.

Well. Something else did find her, thought it wasn’t entirely work. That thing. She’d recognize it everywhere, and how could she not? Eyes as black as night. Rusty nail hammered deep into it’s pale flesh, especially the neck and upper arms. Sharp, needle-like teeth behind the bloodless lips. It was as horrible as the first time, but this time she didn’t scream, as the thing moved towards the entrance of the inn, motioning her to follow him. She was ready to dart through the back door and mount her horse, but then it spoke, silently, but she understood.

Blaise. Hurry.

Elysa turned back towards the ghost, who was standing inches from her now. “Let me get Moonlight. Can you show me the way?” She was thankful to all the stars she was alone at the Inn because if anyone saw that she’d be in problems. Rushing back she mounted her black steed, and ushered him to gallop, following the Spirit GPS in her head.

It was only a short gallop when she noticed Blaise laying on the ground, and the backs of a group of people in the distance - she wouldn’t notice them if there weren’t for the ghostly instructions. Elysa jumped from her horse, who was a bit restless neighing every few seconds, and crouched next to Blaise.

“Blaise?” She placed her hand on his shoulder as he flinched, exhaling in relief when he spoke. “Yes, I have. Here.” She took out the flask and handed it to him, adding. “Do you need my help?”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

He knew that voice. It was familiar. He moved to lay on his back, looking up at the girl above him.

Elysa.

His heart hammered in his slowly rising chest, his labored breathing becoming more and more evident to himself. What did those guards do to him?

He reached out to her, unable to hold her arm as tightly as he would have liked. “Sit up,” he whispered; the soreness in his chest and back wasn’t allowing him to sit up on his own, he needed help if he was going to get anything out of her flask. He gripped the flask with his free hand as he braced himself for the pain that came with sitting up.

“The inn,” he breathed, feeling his voice starting to return. He looked at her, eyes full of fear. “Is Eli still there?” He prayed to anyone that would listen that he wasn’t; he couldn’t let Eli see him like this.

[blaiselestrange-blog]

ambush

He hadn’t even seen them coming. It was dark, near on midnight, if he had to guess, as he trekked back from a local tavern to the inn. His head was down, always down, as he walked, his gaze trained intently on his boots. The hood of his cloak had fallen off his head, and perhaps that’s how they found him in the first place.

Their voices rattled him to his core. They sneered and snarled as they encircled him, snapping at him like wolves ready to pounce on their prey. He was fear-stricken, unable to move as the memories of their boots colliding with his head, his chest, his legs flooded his mind, causing his heart and lungs to seize in his chest. He couldn’t breathe.

One by one they took their turns, drunken fists crashing into him from every angle, striking him in the familiar way only his former captors would know. He was free, he was a free man, and yet he couldn’t fight back; by his estimation, there were at least five of them, to his one.

A decisive blow to the head sent him crumpling to the ground, though he was still conscious as their feet struck his chest and back, kicking wildly as if they’d had no new prisoners to torment his his release. It didn’t take him much longer to pass out, and once they realized he was no longer responsive, slowly, the blows tapered off.

One of his former captors spat on him as he turned to leave. “Say hello to your brother for us,” he sneered, stumbling off in the darkness with his friends, headed back to the castle.

He didn’t know how long he’d passed out for, but when he awoke, it was still dark. Dried blood stained his face, his clothes, the ground beneath him. His head pounded in pain, and his chest and back ached everywhere. For a moment, he thought he was still in a cell beneath the castle, so when he saw a pair of boots appear before his eyes, he cowered in fear, expecting another beating. It took him a few moments to remember that he was, in fact, laying in the streets of Albion.

He opened one eye and peered up at the person to whom the boots belonged and, upon deciding it wasn’t a guard, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Water,” he rasped, his voice hardly audible, “Have you any water?”

[emilie-rosier]

“Even if you did try to tell me, I doubt I would listen.” She grinned, giving a shrug. “You should go catch up on that sleep you missed last night.”

[blaiselestrange-blog]

“Perhaps I ought,” he said, laughing a little as he rubbed his eyes, “I am awfully tired.” Though he doubted he would sleep well.

[emilie-rosier]

“Its not that cold. I mean, its starting to warm up and everything!” She grinned. “But if you prefer, I can always just wrap up in a blanket in here instead.” 

[blaiselestrange-blog]

Blaise laughed a little. “Whatever you prefer, Emilie. I shan’t tell you how to live your life.”