Erl'elee d'lil drathir lu' thac'zil

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Red Gypsy

"What kind of brother would I be if I couldn't tell when something is wrong?"

The drow listened to his sisters concerns and could understand why she was nervous and stressed.
As she spoke and she changed the baby clothes he was looking at, he re boxed them and wondered why he wasn't stressed as she was.

Of course he was always worried about things but what made him not stress out to the point of giving up?


"Hey, don't worry about the pressure on me. I have learned to deal with the stress and I am doing alright."

Once everything was ready and wrapped up nicely, he stood up and cracked his neck before rubbing it.

"...I don't think his daughter is the one the prophecy mentions. She is a baby and if the estimated time for our salvation is at hand, I think perhaps it is someone else.

Otherwise let's say it is Lareth's daughter...It would take years for her to grow up and our clan does not have years like that. Not with numbers so small and that odd unknown coughing sickness going on."

Aeriolous put his trunk away and faced his sister with a smirk.

"And if it his daughter, do you think he would allow me even to get near her? Knowing me as he does as he trained me in the art of seduction and such, I wouldn't let someone like me near my child. I would honestly end all men coming near my daughter."

Aeriolous became serious for a moment as he looked up at the ceiling in thought, rubbing his hairless chin.

"Or I could be thinking about this all wrong...what if she grows up to be like her dad in the sense of umm...seduction? Could I handle it? Could she break this stud of his prancing ways?"

Stud indeed. All he did was work for his people and have an occasional night drinking out with some of the elder men in the clan. Otherwise he was as Lareth called, A homebody.  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Aurora shook her head a bit, "Please... I've had more lovers in the last three years than you've had in the last ten..." she informed him in a wry tone with one raised eye brow. And she was right.

Then she shook her head again, "I think you're forgetting something about this girl, Aeri... She'll also be her mother's daughter... You haven't spent much time with her since you were a child. Even now, whenever you go over there, you spend your time with Lareth or Hal instead of with Cynthia. I remember her better and I've spent alot of time with her since Lareth married her. And she's actually got Lareth beat on numbers. The only reason she didn't jump right into the sack with Lareth was because she didn't just want to be another notch in his bedpost," she pointed out, then paused for him to think about that one before continuing.

She tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear and tilted her head at him a bit, "This girl may give you a run for your money, Aeri... And she's half demon. Their children grow up very fast. Almost too fast, some would say. You will probably only have a few years to get used to the idea before the day is upon you. The time is close, Aeri. Besides, I've gotten that coughing sickness figured out thanks to Hal, so you can set that worry aside," she stopped there before she said anything that would put any plans in jeopardy. And she'd given her word...

She turned to gather up the paperwork they'd been going over and got her face under control before she turned back to give him a kiss to his cheek, "You go and let your friend show off his children. Let me know how Cynthia and Hal are doing," she told him with a small smile then left before he could question her further.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

redgypsy

Aerioulous let out a small laugh at his sisters remark about her lover count. She had him beat there...but that was because there were more important things to do like...leadership stuff. Yeah stuff.

Once they finished their small heart to heart chat and his sister left him alone after kissing his cheek, he put his hands on hips and looked around the room.

"Well there is nothing to do at the moment and I don't think going now to see Lareth and his family would be too soon, so I guess I will go."

More often than not he would end up talking to himself and thankfully no one really saw him do so. Perhaps he liked the sound of his voice or perhaps it just filled the empty void of the silence in the room. Who knew for sure.

Once he made his decision, he changed his clothes, grabbed up the nice giftsd, and headed out to see Lareth and the new royal nuggets.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

neutral Aerioulous dragged himself into his room that night weary with worry and concern about everything as of late.
He blinked away sleepiness from his eyes as he gave them a firm rub with the back of his bandaged hand. He scoffed at the sight of his bandaged hand as the cloth rubbed its scratchiness against his eyes a bit too hard.

Plopping down onto the soft bed, he sat there wondering what the hell those assassins had on their blades...A substance that had rendered almost all healing poultices and medicines useless and was now slowly eating away at him. He knew their wasn’t much time left for him as he found that he had developed the very same lung disease that had afflicted his people and he was coughing up more blood as the days had gone by. Did the poison from the blade speed things up? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was fate teaching him a lesson on not trying harder for his clan. In the last few months, his village had been hit with sickness and the few hundred left, were now less than a dozen and the few that were left would most likely be the last of their kind. Too old and too sick to reproduce, the drow would be wiped out.


“Some leader I turned out to be.”

He ran his bandaged hand through his short hair and thought back to the assassins that had been popping up around the demon realm.
Lareth had called on him to help him hunt, but every time they got close to capturing one, the assassins all killed themselves. Cyanide pills in the teeth. An interesting tactic and an extreme one.
Aerioulous flipped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.

“How do I tell everyone? Should I tell everyone?”






Lareth walked through the village talking with the few drow that were left. With the odd sickness that swept through here, the once many proud warriors, were now just a few.
It angered him that the sickness that had been spread seemed to had to have been intentional. It only seemed to affect the drow and no one else. The dwarves who used to share this village, all left once their dark skinned neighbors got sick and burrowed further underground.

There was nothing that he could do to help the very people he had welcomed into his realm. No medicine nor magic could help them now. It was a matter of time.
Aerioulous seemed healthy enough, but as the months went by, and the two of them went on more hunts to track down a recent assassin group, he knew his friend would be gone by years end.

Lareth shook his head as he had no idea what to do. For once the king was at a loss of a course of action  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

As he was speaking with an elder, he looked up and watched as Aerioulous had emerged from his own home and was now heading over to him. The elder drow excused himself and Lareth waited.

“Thought you were going to bed?”

The drow shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. Something he did when he was deep in thought or as of late nervous.

“Not yet. We need to talk. Too much on my mind and I need to verbally spew what’s running around up in my head to someone who will listen.”

Lareth nodded and motioned for him to follow. The king led his friend to a hidden area just away from the village that the dwarves had once used as a wrestling pit. Lareth sat down in one of the carved seats in the rock face and motioned for Aerioulous to do the same. Once both men were seated, Lareth took out a flask and handed it to the drow.

“Liquid courage...sometimes it’s needed to take the edge off”

The calloused dark hand took the flask, popped it open and took a drink.

“Thanks. Lareth...we don’t have much time left to hunt. The poison is working faster than I thought and I am hacking up a good bit of my lungs now. Pieces are actually coming out.”

Another drink and he gripped the container tightly.

“There isn’t much time left for my people either. I... I have a favor to ask when we are all gone.
Burn our village and bodies just in case and remember us fondly for no one else will.”

Lareth raised a brow but looked away when Aerioulous took his second drink.

“You know I would burn this place to ash. Safety precautions you know...but since you asked, I will do this personally when it’s time.

As for time...we finish this in the next few days. If we can’t as you are unfit, you should finish out your time here. With family.”

Aerioulous nodded as he got up after he finished the flask.

“Thanks. You should head home for the day. See the family and enjoy what you have. I will see you tomorrow Lareth.”

The demon king watched him go before anything else could be said. Lareth stood and pocketed his flask. Unbeknownst to Aerioulous, Lareth was sticking around for the night as he had an uneasy feeling leaving the drow alone tonight. He walked back to the village, not sensing that several shadows followed him.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

((long post))

Several hours later Lareth gave out a long yawn as he leaned up against a wall. He looked out across the empty village as the clan slept. Memories a bustling area filled his minds eye as he wondered who would poison the Drow and what was the purpose? Since the last war, the drow had kept to themselves, trying to regrow their numbers, and make things work for their homes within the mountain.

Lareth pulled out a ruby stone from his pocket and rubbed it a few times. A small communication device he had created to keep him connected to his wife. The small jewel sparked a few times but then went dark. Usually it went dark when Cynthia couldn’t activate her personal stone as she was most likely busy sleeping or with the twins.

He smiled to himself as he pocketed the stone. He would contact her later and let her know he was alright. The last few days had been hectic as tracking down assassins who seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye had been more time consuming than he had thought. He didn’t like being away from his family. He knew his wife was more than capable of protecting their home and children, but he wanted to be home and protect her.

“Sometimes I wonder if I even deserve such a good life?”

There was a rush of wind and the small whoosh of a dagger being drawn.

Lareth turned just in time as a dark arm came rushing at him. He gritted his teeth as the blade slid into his hand. He reached up and grabbed the arm that held the blade and sent a blast of energy through into his attacker. It was so intense, the attacker’s body was blown back and the arm still was held in Lareth’s hand.

Removing the blade hurt, but there was no time to think about anything else, as all at once, three more shadows charged towards him. He chuckled as he pulled out his weapon and he knocked all three to the side in one sweeping motion of his arm.

“I knew it was good to stay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aerioulous wasn’t able to sleep after his talk earlier with Lareth. He had hoped stating the facts and his thoughts would ease his mind, but it only seemed to make his thoughts come rushing faster as the realization of his end was near.

He didn’t even get the chance to do what he wanted. Save his people from this sickness, marry off his sister so she could hound someone else about anything and everything, travel around learning about different cultures but most importantly, perhaps becoming lucky enough to be as happy as his old friends.

Married? Sure. Children? Not so sure. It was always nicer to spoil someone else’s children and then fling them back at their parents wound up and full of moon sugar.

He groaned as he slowly sat up in his bed and grabbed his chest. Tonight the pain was worse and it was burning inside his chest.

He picked up a glass on his side table and took a drink of the water he had poured for himself earlier. It soothed his throat and cleared his head some. Before he could organize his thoughts, there was a crash outside of his home and the sounds of fighting. He grabbed his daggers and his magic flared to life as he rushed out the door.

Outside of his home was pandemonium. Lareths flames erupted around him as he blasted and sent several men flying. As one went flying past, Aerioulous recognized the armor.

The assassins had come to them.

He let out a yell as he conjured up dark looking roots from the ground and trapped several attackers as he leapt forward blades drawn and lashing out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both men stood back to back heaving and panting as they stood away from the carnage they had left. They had moved the attack outside of the village and were finally able to catch their breaths.

Whatever the reason, the assassins had come in force. More than Lareth or Aeriolous had expected.

Lareth felt tired…so tired. He didn’t know how many times he had been stabbed and with what. Everything burned and his vision was nearly gone. He felt his magic as on its last legs as it flickered inside of him.

“Well…looks like we bothered them enough to get them to come to us…eh bud?”

Aerioulous nodded as he coughed and shook as he couldn’t stop the pieces of lung from coming up. After several minutes he responded in a hoarse whisper.

“Yeah…finally a break? I think I will sleep for a bit. But first….drag me home. Need to leave someone in charge.”

Lareth turned and smacked him on the a**.
“drag yourself. You got legs.”
Lareth grabbed his friend by the shoulder and together somehow, hobbled back to the village. What they found had Lareth cursing and Aerioulous falling forward. The village was destroyed and everyone dead. The last of the drow had been gathered in the central area and executed.

Aerioulous let out a terrible and cracked wail as everything was gone now. Everything was done and he didn’t couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Several minutes later he looked up at Lareth and grabbed him by his blood torn and shredded tunic.

“…remember our promise as those years ago? After we became blood brothers?”

When Lareth didn’t answer, Aerioulous licked his lips and continued.

“You swore you would end me if I asked…Well I’m asking now. Nothing is left…no one is left and I’m already done. This poison and sickness has done enough to me. Let me join…my family.”

Lareth wanted to argue. Wanted to deny the drow his death because Lareth was selfish. But Lareth knew it would be better to die by a friend’s hand than by a enemy’s blade. Aerioulous deserved to have his end his way.

Lareth helped Aerioulous to his feet and they both walked to the center of the village and he had Aerioulous face him.

“Aerioulous Shadowcat…blood brother, loyal subject, and my true friend…I release you from your promise to the kingdom and all promises to me. I fulfil my oath to you by releasing you as promised…Goodbye…my friend. May the gods take you kindly into their arms…”

Lareth drew his dagger and drove the dagger deep into his friends heart and twisted the blade.

Death was instant. His friend let out his last gurgled breath and smiled before his eyes closed. He collapsed at Lareth’s feet and lay beside his kinsmen.

Lareth stumbled away and rested against one of the buildings as he caught his breath. He felt the bubbling in his chest. Blood was in his lungs and he didn’t have enough power to get home. Only enough to do what he had to do now.

He raised a shaky gloved hand and in a burst of white hot fire, the drow bodies were incinerated.

Lareth’s arm fell to his side as he slid down the wall and sat on the floor. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the red jewel from earlier. He rubbed it and waited.

No answer.

He chuckled and kissed it.

“Goodbye my love…take care and see you perhaps again one…day.”

Lareth took a shuddering breath as his vision went and he felt everything slowing down. He thought of his children and wife and smiled.

“Oh fate…you cheeky b***h…teased me good didn’t you? Well…you got me. I should have known better…”

And with that, Lareth’s life extinguished and the demon realm shook with the death of its ruler as the power that belonged once to him, rolled back and into the realm.  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

Brianna appeared in the devastated village, still crying. She sat for a moment then started crawling through the bodies and ashes. The assassins had long since left the area, so that wasn't a danger. She crawled through it all until she found her father.

She touched his face a couple of times then moved to curl up against his chest. By now, she'd cried so much that she had the hiccups.

She was a miniature image of her mother but sweet natured and a natural healer. Her father had never brought her to the drow village, though he'd never said why...  

[Wolfe Garm]

Red Gypsy

Khax rode his mount high above the village, after everything had been burned Khax made every effort to help the survivors get out and had done so without fail and would have moved on from this place were it not for a message that came to him, a reminder of what was at stake within the realm and moved Razorbeak down towards the ground. Once on the ground Khax dismounted his griffon and stepped over to its head patting it a moment as he looked around the ruins of the village. Eventually he stepped away from it and started walking around the village searching for someone the message had told him to look for, a child who’d likely be here and didn’t waste any time starting his search.

As he moved his left hand was close to his grip of his sword prepared for anything to happen as he moved through the ruins aware that while unlikely that those who’d destroyed the village was still there but he never knew for sure and was being careful. The devastation around him made it difficult for Khax to find her since he wasn’t really sure where the child might be, though he couldn’t be certain that the child was indeed here, and when things like no one else was there he started to turn back to the center of the village to go back to his mount, it was at that moment that he heard someone and looked in the direction of the noise and rushed over that way, moving carefully through the ruins and rubble.

Once through the ruins he finally found the child and sighed in relief as he stepped over to her and… Lerath’s body. “Brianna” he spoke softly as he stepped over to her and knelt down by her placing a hand on her back, looking around a moment again he moved his left hand away from his sword and picked her up carefully holding her close “sorry Brianna but it isn’t safe here, we’ll come back for him and give him a proper burial I promise” Khax could see that she was grieving even for a young babe it wasn’t hard to see that she was hurting from the loss of her father, the realm lost two good men today, but Khax wasn’t about to let the young Brianna added to the list of those lost and carried her in his arms as he carefully made his way back someplace clearer and whistled once on the road and heard razorbeak cry out in response which after a moment came to them without delay and stopped next to khax.

Khax got on the griffon easily even while holding Brianna and made sure she was safe before they took off into the sky, his destination the castle to return Brianna back to her mother who had been justifiably worried about her disappearing so suddenly.  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

In all honestly, Brianna wouldn't have let anyone else pick her up so easily. She put her arms around his neck as he carried her, her body shaking with her hiccups from crying so much. The griffon was a bit nervous thanks to the smell of blood and ash the child had picked up during her crawl to her father, but put up with it out of loyalty.

As he settled them on the beast, she snuggled her head into the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, "My 'Cane..." she whispered softly, shortening a name he never used. How she knew it was a mystery. But it was Brianna...

There was no real telling how she knew the things she did.

But her first words were a claim that would set things in motion that no one could stop...