The fight rushed out of her as soon as Elaya tackled her. Wit came back and she knew she'd made a mistake, one Elaya was going to chew her out for. Tatia didn't fight, laying limp as her thoughts went in circles. The assassin needed to die...she needed to be silenced...she needed...
Tatia's eyes snapped to Elaya's, her words striking a cord. Land dwellers were not to know of the sea's world. When had it changed?
"I..." she started but Elaya cut her off, continuing on her lecture. Tatia's eyes looked down at her lap, the water too shallow to cover her entire legs...thankfully. The last thing she needed today was an internal struggle to keep from her scales growing. If Elaya was right, and she knew it all, then one look at her tail and the werewolf would realize Tatia was more trouble than she was worth. And that was the only thought that stuck with her. Elaya would protect her...as long as no one saw her tail.
I just have to hide it. They haven't seen my scales. I'm still safe...I'm still safe.
Elaya turned and left and Tatia sat in her armor in the water, looking rather odd and out of place. She pulled herself out of the pool, needing to get the metal out of the water before it rusted. Curling up in the corner of the cave, she went over Elaya's words again and again, trying to make herself believe them. But memories swam behind her eyes, horrid things reminding her of why she had to be so careful.
"You musn't let anyone see your tail. Not on land or in water child."
"But father," Tatia cried, her tiny, ten year old hands shaking as her father touched them, sitting his young daughter on a rock outside a cove.
"Listen to me Tatiana," he spoke calmly, "Your mother died saving you today. Your uncle has risked his life getting us here. We cannot risk yours now by mistake. You must never trust anyone with your secrets."
"Come with me daddy," Tatia cried, "Don't go back."
"I must. It is our kingdom, and are people are down there dying. Christof will protect you on land. I will come back to you my sweet flower."
He kissed her on the head then, before diving below, leaving his little girl on the rock, her violet tail cold and shivering in the wind. She had never been above surface before...she was so scared.
"So scared," Tatia whispered, shivering as she curled into herself seeing Drea approach and raising her voice, "I'm fine. I...uh, I just...I'm okay."
But she was crying. She hadn't realized there were tears rolling down her cheeks, the memory of the last time she had ever seen her father making her sad.
"It's okay child," her Uncle had wiped her tears away back then, pulling the siren into his arm's, "Your father is strong. He will last, and he will come back for us. Let us dry you off before people see us. It's time for you to walk on land now little fish."
He never did come back. Within that week Tatia had been thrust into a human life, taught what it meant to lie and mistrust, and watched her mother die before her own eyes. And within that week she had lost the last of her family; her father had passed, and her Uncle Christof in fear for both of them sent her to an orphanage before fleeing, knowing they would chase him and she could remain safe.
"Please," Tatia held her hand up, wiping tears with the other, "I just want to be alone."
Lairia watched Elaya leave with Tatia and immediately turned her eyes on the assassin struggling to breath.
She had no idea what had transferred between the two, only adversed in the languages of magic. Still the assassin had upset the brunette rather badly, and they did not need her running off while Elaya calmed her down.
"
Duratus."
The assassin fell over, frozen stiff. The spell barely cost Lairia any energy, and she was easily able to hold her there, trapped in Lairia's spell until the sorceress felt like releasing her. All castors magics were tied to their own energy. The stronger the energy, the stronger the magic they could perform. There were, of course, talisman's and trinkets to help grow one's power but Lairia was one of the more natural sorceress', preferring strengthening her own talents over using cheap trinkets. And she had grown very strong over the years.
"You can sit there till someone comes for you," she chirped, returning to her box, "I'm not having you escape when you've cost us all so much trouble."
The conversation about sugar cubes was forgotten as below a fight broke out, Tatia screaming in her own tongue. Kai wanted to help, but Gerry stopped him, advising him to leave it to Sera and Elaya. As he did Elaya tackled the siren, kicking the assassin down in the process. The sorceress paused in her work, watching with an open mouth while Sera took a few steps back, giving the werewolf room. He was watching the scene when Rey joined, pulling his attention. Kai remained silent, listening to the conversation with a sliver of envy. They all knew each other so well...and he was still so new. He didn't have any interesting stories either. He'd been raised by his clan in the south and when he turned of age he moved away to become a traveler. He'd spent years honing his skills and collecting coin, until he'd run into the team on the road as he fought off a band of thieves. He'd been injured, and afterward Elaya finished them off Sera offered to get him to the next city safe. He'd been with the team since.
"Never heard of the Church," he exclaimed after Gerry's explanation, "Sound like a nasty group though."
His eyes turned back to look down at the group, only to see Lairia and the assassin lying in the corner. The rest were gone, most likely in the cave. At least he thought that until he heard a shrill cry like a hawk and then Sera running through the stone arch into the clearing, collapsing to her knees with an arrow stuck in her shoulder.
"Shit! We are under attack!" Kai yelled, jumping to his feet.
Sera sighed, pausing between the arch of stone into the clearing, rubbing her temples. It didn't seem enough that her band of mercenaries had to fight enemies daily. Now they were fighting amongst themselves? Seraphina was going to have to sit all of them down and remind them who the real enemies were.
She made to step into the clearing when a crackle behind her caught her ear, so soft she almost missed it. Elaya was too busy with Tatia to notice, and Gerry was deep in conversation with Kai and Rey. It could have just as easily been a rabbit, and Sera didn't want to disturb the remaining frays of peace so she turned and slipped away undetected. All she had to do was sneak towards the sound and investigate. If more assassin's had followed Sera could take them down on her own, her flames being enough.
As she got closer the crackle moved away, either sensing her and fleeing or just not silent enough as it walked. She got closer, and then it got further, leading her away from the Whistling Cave and into the small batch of trees around it. She could barely call it a forest, the hills less than a mile in either way but it was the start of the forest leading into the cliffs and rock faces they'd be traversing through tomorrow. Nevertheless there was only so much of these trees to utilize for hiding, and Sera only needed to herd it towards the edge.
Suddenly it turned sharply and she did too, but the soft crackle became a crashing sound and her eyes caught a flash of brown fur and a fluffy tail, a hare racing through the bush.
"I'm becoming paranoid," she laughed, standing up and turning back the way she came. She was partway there when a bush rustled to her left but she shrugged it off, assuming it was just another hare.
Suddenly a arrow whistled through the air, and Sera tried to turn and duck behind a tree but she was too late, the arrow embedding itself in her shoulder as a piercing shriek left her throat. It was a nonhuman cry, sounding more like a cry of a hawk than that of a wounded person. Sera bolted for the cave, crashing through the trees and bounding into the clearing before her legs gave out, feet from Elaya.
"We are under attack!" Kai yelled, motivating everyone to their feet.
Seraphina yanked the arrow from her back, blanching at the pain as a shock jolted through her muscles. Staring at the arrow point she could see it coated in her own blood and something dark.
"Poison," she breathed up to Elaya, her vision getting blurry so that she couldn't see the werewolf's beautiful face properly, "Strong, deadly poison."
Her temperature would stave off any poison and cauterize her wound pretty quickly, but this particular poison wasn't diluted, and such a concentrated dose was messing with her senses. She knew she'd burn through it, but it was still taking a momentary hold of her, making it hard for her to move or fight. It was up to the rest of them, their leader down for the count.
"Be careful," she coughed to Elaya, curled in the grass with her head pressed into the cold dirt, "Be...careful..."
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