mogget_cat | To the Old Kingdom

(From here.)

The door he gallantly opened for her opened out into gently lapping waters, lit from overhead by a multitude of stars uncountable. So many together, they give off a glow stronger than the light of the full moon, singing softly of promised rest for those below. The insubstantial spirits of the dead rise from the waters, some quickly, eager for their eternal rest, and some slowly, fighting the pull even as they rise, foot by foot.

The two of them step down slightly into the water that only rises to their ankles, and Yrael closes the door behind them.

"As you can see," Yrael smiles. "I have been practicing even when not at the Milliways lake."

Despite the fact that the waters of Death aren't exactly the same as other water.

Current Mood: amused

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Rachel? Was outside the Charter..but she could see energy and flow. Not the symbols...but she could see something like water laughing and trickling along the entire length that was threaded through the Gordian knot of jewelry.

"What is it?" she asked simply, reaching out a finger to poke it enough to set the gem swaying. It was pretty, she'd give it that...but she wasn't a fan of necklaces, so her judgment kinda stopped there...

While waiting for him to explain, she began to gather the deniers he'd pointed out, rescuing another abandoned bag for them.

"It is concealment. If one were wearing this, they could be in a swamp, wearing a white shirt with Here I am, come and get me! written on it, and they would still go unnoticed by those who meant them ill."

It's definitely going into the bag.

"That would have been handy to have" she admitted, poking it again for good measure before it disappeared into the depths of Yrael's bag. "As you still wore white in the swamps, sire"

Then she grinned, imagining no few people in Bar it could be gifted to who would put it to...good...use.

"We were both covered in enough mud that that did not even matter, loyal guard."

Thank goodness for that dry-cleaners at the next village, though. They worked wonders.

Rachel has plenty of time to poke the necklace, as it takes Yrael some while to untangle all the necklaces enough to slip that particular one free and put it in the bag.

Yrael looks around, thoughtfully. "We probably shouldn't linger here too long. I do not recall when they change the guards."

"Well, didn't matter except that your royal self did insist on attempting to bathe at every bit of clear water...you ended up grey." she sniffed delicately. "Better by far to stick with full mud."

Then she laughed and tied her own denier sack to a belt loop and nodded to the door "Guards still out cold of course, and there's no mind in..." her eyes unfocused slightly "About a hundred yards."

Yep, time to go!

"You know me, loyal guard, I cannot help abhorring having any speck of dirt on me for too long. And besides, the water was so fresh and cool," even Yrael can't keep from making a face at the thought.

"Let's go." He shoves a handful of the derniers into a smaller sack and puts that into the larger sack. Heading quickly through the doorway into the first treasure room, they quietly open the door (the fact that it hit the sleeping guard was a complete accident) and move down the hall.

They turn the corner into another hall at the very moment a shout goes up from behind them.

"Cleanliness, sometimes, is NOT in one's best interest." she chuckled.

And go they did, the sleeping guard being soundly chewed out by whom ever had arrived behind them. By the sounds of it, it was someone of higher rank, and there was a quieter voice trying to cut in, vainly, as if to get past the arguing guards and back to work.

It had Rachel laughing mentally, bright and merry, as she knew that the worst punishment the sleeping guard would receive would be clenaing detail.

Yrael's grinning as they head down the hall, listening to the harangue fade into the background.

"We'll have to circle back around to get to the garden. These levels of the castle are warded against anyone going into or coming out of Death. When we get back to the garden, we can walk along the edge of Death until we get down to the rest of the city."

"Well, that makes sense" Rachel admitted easily, loping through the hallways behind Yrael easily. "Wouldn't want immoral death walkers to slip right into the heart of the castle without having to see the gardens..." she teased.

"It'd be rude."

"The gardens are pretty safe, being out under the sun. I would expect that at night they are heavily patrolled."

They make it to the gardens without incident, and are once again under the open sky.

"Which would you rather do, scale the wall and sneak past the guards, or go back and wander the edge of Death until we reach the markets?"

"Well, highness, I really should council for safety and silent escape." she should all told.

"But how ever will they know how poor their defenses are if friendly forces do not point it out?"

"Perhaps we will be lucky, and the Abhorsen will be out on business, elsewhere. Perhaps still investigating my last visit to the Old Kingdom."

He grins, toothily. It was a bloody good time, all told.

"The wall, it is. Shall we be polite and leave by the door?" He smirks, wandering towards the city-side wall.

"We'll keep our fingers crossed, because I'd hate to have to face more assassins when we should be safe, highness" she laughed. Yes, she'd happily slot "Abhorsen" into "Assassin" for ease of storytelling!

"We are guests!" she chided "Of course we should be polite!"

"So would I, loyal guard."

"The assassin's guards probably will not be pleased to see us saunter free of this place where they meant to trap us."

There's a gate up ahead, with a guard on either side. Not expecting an attack from within, however, they have their backs to the approaching pair.

"No doubt" she agreed sagely. "They'll be angered and redouble their efforts to track us down once more" she sighed. "Well...I never did expect a long life of service!"

As demonstrated by the sheer fact that she reached for the door in the gate and opened it seemingly ignoring the guards as cheerfully as she would have servants. After all, brazen was a term oft applied to her.

"We will lose them among the townspeople."

"Afternoon, all," he greets the guards cheerfully as they pass, smiling at their startlement and their begun Charter Spells for immobility and binding.

"Good time for a siesta, yes?"

He politely closes the door again behind them, nudging the now-sleeping guard's foot aside with a toe. He motions to the spread of the city, smoke rising from chimneys in the early afternoon sunlight. "Belisaere."

Rachel eyed the sleeping guards, then sighed, tucking her arm in his "You take all the fun out of being chased you know" she pointed out.

"Though you would be hard to lose that easily. You simply stand out from common townspeople." so said the woman who tended to draw people's gaze regardless of where she was.

"I would rather not have them raise the alarm. It would interrupt our outing. Eventually, news of us would reach the Abhorsen."

And he does not want that to happen. He's already been caught near Belisaere once by her.

"They'd be breathing down our necks the whole time, and wouldn't even help carry our things."

"Would I be so careless a guard as to let them spread the word?" she snorted. Telepathy could so very, very subtle.

Besides, these guards had been far more prominent than the lone treasuring guards. How long until someone connected the reports of sleeping guards and locked away the treasury hmmm?

"Running is good for you"

"Eh. Prince. Flashy. Not so subtle. You know." Yrael waves a hand, airily. "And I forget." He keeps overlooking the fact that she can do things like that.

"Running is good for you, maybe."

"Running keeps the royal body in shape so no silly court bards make up unflattering ballads" she responded airily.

"You shouldn't." forget that was.

"I know, but I do. I cannot remember things as well as I once did." He doesn't like it, but there is little he can do about it.

"Silly court bards who make up unflattering ballads are always sentenced to do some running of their own. With a lion behind them."

Or a not'cat.

It hurt a little sometimes was all. She was a hero, she helped. She had to, it was her nature; her blood and bone....

...and dismissed...

...forgotten...

"Well, you know how those things go highness! It's only sung in lower city at first, whispered like a rumor. By the time we hear it no one knows who wrote it anymore..."

He puts his arm around her, bumping his temple against hers, lightly, in apology. He forgets things. Yrael is more Mogget than he likes to think about: more cat, more human, more mortal than he ever was. He is very little of the Bright Shiner who first refused to take sides in his siblings' feud.

"Speaking of lower city," he says as they head down the hill towards the better class of houses. "Where shall we go first?"

Everyone faded over centuries. Everyone, because existing took it's toll. She forgave.

"It's not my city, Highness, so I've not the faintest clue? Someplace that wants our money I guess?"