Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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As the men continued moving just beyond their hidey-hole, Amun could feel Maea begin to panic. Eyes narrowing, he squeezed her fingers again. Then he moved his neck very slowly. He couldn't see the smugglers, which likely meant they couldn't see the potter.
So he risked stepping a little back, so he could turn to face the room. Still gripping the Loreseeker's hand, he crouched down behind a nearby crate, trying to hide himself from any prying eyes. Gently tugging Maea forward to try and join him in his new hiding spot, he risked lifting his head just a little bit. He was hoping for some sign of where, exactly, the smugglers were.
Amun moved, and dragged her along with him. Maea wasn't sure why. Her thoughts were murky and unclear, unable to focus on much of anything except how tight the space around her was, and how the darkness down here was far denser than she remembered. Maea wasn't afraid of the dark, she loved it, but this... this was somehow different. It wasn't the close, soul-deep nothingness of Ludo's embrace, or the sweet relief of night, but something dangerous. Menacing.
But her brother's grip on her hand was insistent, and she had no choice but to obey, drag herself back out of the crevice to huddle down beside him. Suddenly free from the constricting walls, she sucked in a deep, hoarse breath, a little too loud; the voices of the men suddenly quieted, and the light of a torch brightened the space around them, casting their hiding spot in deep shadow.
She grew still as... well, almost as still as Amun. Had they heard her?
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Alright, so much for the stealthy approach. Amun gave Maea a reassuring squeeze, then tapped her leg with his free hand, hoping she’d get the hint that they were about to move. Moving quietly, but as quickly as he could, he reached up with his left arm so he could cover her ears and her eyes with his arm, praying she’d trust him.
Then he squeezed his own eyes shut, looked away, lifted his right hand, and fired a flash bang directly at the approaching smugglers.
Who screamed at the light and pressure that exploded around them in the gloom of the tunnel. Amun was a bit disoriented as well, but he did his best to jerk Maea to her feet. Assuming he was successful, he’d try to tug her into a run down the tunnel they’d originally come down.
She registered the tap on her leg, figured it meant they were moving, but Maea didn't get much further than that in her thought process before Amun's arms snapped up to cover her head, blocking off both eyes and ears. She tensed, mouth open to protest; but he was doing something, a jerky motion that was quickly followed by a wave of something painfully bright - or was it loud? - and before she could really catch her breath, they were up. Running, Maea completely blind and with only Amun's grip on her arm to guide her, their feet echoing loudly against stone floors.
She could hear shouts of pain from behind them, groans and angry voices, then the sound of footsteps approaching in a run.
"They're coming after us!" she gasped, redundantly; no doubt Amun already knew that. She stumbled, had trouble keeping her balance properly in the dark and with her head reeling from the shockwave. "What was that?"
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Thankfully, the smugglers had dropped the torch in their surprise, and it had been snuffed out. Given the flash bang had ruined their ability to see in the dark, Amun kept running, tugging Maea as needing, and guiding her around turns wherever necessary. "It was a flash bang. I'll tell you all about it later." Freed from the need to breathe, his words came out smoothly enough.
Skidding around a corner, he frowned as the footsteps somehow closed the gap. "Can you coat the ground behind us with ice or send a wave at them or something?" His uncertainty about how magic worked was clear, so he just kept leading her through the darkness of the tunnels.
Her breath came a lot harder and faster than his, as he didn't have one. Maea was working on her stamina and building strength, but it was a work in progress still, and running without being able to see was somehow more straneous than it should have been.
Amun asked her for a distraction, and she thought quickly. "Alright, stop at the next turn," she breathed, thinking through her limited arsenal for ideas. And when the next intersection came, Maea let go of his hand and turned, planting her feet firmly on the ground. Sucking in a deep breath, she reached deep into her reserves of magic and created water on the spot. Not a trickle, not a pool, but a surge of it that sprung up from the ground before her. She let it build up until it was several feet thick and filled the tunnel from wall to wall, roof to ceiling.... and with a little gesture that was mostly there for focus than anything else, Maea froze all the water into a single, rock-solid clump of ice. Effectively sealing off the path for any pursuers.
"That... should take a while.. to melt," she gasped, and backed away. Off around the corner, so no one could see her through the sheer surface. "Unless they have magic too... if there's another water wielder we're screwed."
Straightening, Maea turned, to give Amun a faint grin.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Nodding at Maea's comment, Amun stumbled to a stop at the next spot the tunnels crossed. He planted himself between her and the still approaching smugglers, fully intending to guard from an . Of course, as the tunnel filled with water, water which then froze, leaving a frozen wall behind. "Let's not wait around to find out." He spun around.
Sliding an arm under her shoulders, he tried his best to and guide her away from the wall she'd raised. Already, he could hear hammering on the other side of it, along with the cracking of ice. There was also a glow, as if they'd gotten the torch back.
She was tired, out of breath, but Amun was right. They had to keep going. She accepted his arm about her, the guidance as they hurried off down the tunnels, that ominous chipping sound echoing through the air.
"Do you know where we're going?" she asked him. "Because I still can't see much of anything." It would be very bad to get lost down here, caught between the tide, the smugglers, and... and...
"Amun... I might have an idea. It's a bit insane, but it could work," she said, hastily. The glow behind them had increased in size, too much to be a torch; damn, they must have a fire mage, at the very least. "Can you find us a tunnel with water? One that slopes down..."
Tapping at her throat, she tried to remind him of the crystal. Her ability to breathe under water... and his lack of need to breathe at all.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun shook his head slightly at Maea's question before realizing she couldn’t see that. "Not exactly. Away from our pursuers is good enough for me, though.” Although his voice still came out smoothly, there was a slightly panicked edge to it as they turned yet another seemingly identical corner.
As she mentioned she had a crazy idea involving a downwards sloping tunnel, he groaned. "Oh gods, I hope it's not what I think it is." Still, he picked up the pace again, trying to follow the echoes of rushing water to their source.
It took him a few tries, but he eventually found what she'd asked him for. Stumbling to a halt, he peered down it. "This slopes downwards, but it also curves, so I can't see all the way along it." He glanced at her. "Up to you."
Amun had always been so unphased by everything that happened that Maea had started to think of him as fearless. Utterly cool, calm and collected at all times. But now, as she heard the edge in his voice, she began to realize that perhaps he was just better at masking the fear. She felt strangely calm; tired, strained and worried, yes, but very clear headed too, now that the walls weren't closing in on her anymore.
"It'll be okay," she said, squeezing his hand. "Just be my eyes for a moment longer. We'll be alright."
When he found her the tunnel, Maea took the lead, forging on into the dark. "No time to hesitate," she replied, dragging him along. Soon water sloshed around her feet, startling cold; no light had warmed it for quite some time, which suggested to Maea that there was no immediate connection to the ocean. Some small intake perhaps, but hardly more.
No matter.
"Come on. We'll hide in here for a while, until they give up." Turning, she coated the walls of the tunnel they'd come from with ice again, like they'd passed that way and tried to stall more pursuers. Then she surged into the water, letting it coat her head, swallow her whole as she pressed on, around the curve. With no idea what lay before her.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
"Okay." It came out in a sort of distracted tone, since Amun didn't exactly see he had a choice. Still, he gave Mara a squeeze with the arm he was using to guide her to let her know he understood.
As she switched and took the lead, he made sure there was nothing lurking in the depths of the water they plunged into. Of course, he couldn't feel the cold or the discomfort from the wet, so he only hesitated for a moment. Then he followed her lead in plunging into the water. Once there, he made sure he was in between her and the tunnel, hoping his darker coloring would be harder to pick out in the murky water.
With Ludo's shawl to keep her from freezing, the water temperature wasn't an issue. Nor was breathing, with the Cloud Manta's crystal tied to her throat. And though it was uneasy not to see anything, Amun's presence held her anchored to reality, kept her from straying back into other dark places she had known. The water was her element, the cold darkness her domain; Maea touched Amun's face gratefully when he moved in between her and the tunnel, appreciating the gesture.
Soon, the darkness faded as pursuers caught up to the makeshift wall Maea had made. Their silhouttes twisted and bent by the surface of the water, making details impossible to see... but by the flaring light, she guessed there really was a fire mage among them. She kept very still, hoping they would take the bait.
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Amun obviously went still, not needing to breathe or move at all. The water settled in around them. As Maea reached up to touch his face, he finally moved, reaching up with his own hand to capture her fingers with a firm grip.
Then light flared. He watched as their pursuers found the wall. As they examined it, the fingers of the potter's free hand crept down his body. They finally reached his hip, and he grasped the cutlass so tightly that his knuckles were white. Thankfully, the smugglers seemed to have taken the bait for now at least. The light grew brighter, at least, and they didn't move from their position in front of the ice wall.
The most difficult part of hiding like this was to keep still. To not drift upward in the water and become visible to the people that busied themselves with breaking through her ice wall. Amun took her hand, and she squeezed it tightly, able to see the outlines of him, the hand that crept towards his hip. He was ready to fight, if this plan of hers failed...
Maea wondered what kind of resistence he might be able to put up. Was he skilled with the blade? She hadn't asked. Didn't know. He had been a sailor, it could mean anything.
There was a crack in the ice, excited shouting from the pursuers. They had managed a small hole in the wall, and began to squeeze through.
If only luck could tide them over a few more seconds...
I'm an angel bored like hell And you're a devil meaning well
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
