Last Chance Idol: Week 1: In The Garden
Oct. 1st, 2014 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
i_love_freddieThere was never much greenery to be found in a large city. A few trees here and there, a small few patches of grass fenced off where the children sometimes play. Some of the wealthier estates had small gardens with brightly coloured flowers. But for those who wanted to experience nature without going outside of city limits, their options were limited.
There was one such place of refuge – at least for members of Howling Wolves assassin's guild. On the roof of the huge building that served as the hideout to their headquarters, the guild has created their own garden. Using a combination of nature and magic, they grew fruits and vegetables, various herbs for use in making poisons and antidotes, and a few bushes and plants – including batflowers, a plant that looked like it had multiple eyes, and a very large venus flytrap.
Benny could often be found there; when there were no targets for him to take care of and his friends were all safely occupied with other matters. He enjoyed all the noisy and buzzing activity of the city – up to a point. But when they stayed too long, he was overcome with a yearning to be back in the wild; where he could engage in his shapeshifting at will, roll in the grass as a cat, run through the trees as a graceful leopard, or howl at the moon as a wolf. In a world where there were no others like him – and more fear and mistrust than understanding – it was hard to balance his human side with his animal urges.
And even with good friends around him and a lover within the city, sometimes the assassin felt lonely. He would never admit it, even to himself, but it was what it was.
------
It was a warm day and sunlight flooded the garden – which was almost big enough that a person could pretend they were outside of the city, and mostly allowed to grow wild. Sometimes weeds and vines took on a life of their own and would wind around an unsuspecting boot, but Benny was light-footed enough that he found the correct places to tread almost instinctively.
As he headed for his favourite spot, over in an isolated corner where there was a small 'pond' – or at least something that was supposed to resemble a pond – the assassin sensed that he was not alone. He was not surprised to find Riandur there. The oldest of the two wolfmen who accompanied the group, Riandur was semi-feral and disliked human interaction, avoiding it whenever he could. He was sprawled comfortably in the grass, opening his eyes and tensing his body upon hearing footsteps, but relaxing slightly as he saw it was only Benny.
“Is this pond supposed to be full of slime?” was his immediate greeting.
Benny surveyed the hole carefully. The water was thick and black, and did indeed look very close to slime. Nonetheless, he could see several ripples and movements beneath the surface so something was obviously surviving in there.
“I think Randal - ” referencing the guildmaster “ - is trying to get away from the typical garden look.”
“I know, I had a fight with those vines earlier. Someone is going to get killed or eaten up here on day, you just watch.”
“So what was that thing about with you and Jonas?” Benny asked casually, leaning back against the wall and stretching lazily.
Riandur gave him a long look, not bothering to raise his head. “What thing? If this is about me knocking him down those stairs, it was an accident.”
The assassin tried to hide his smile. “I know. But I was actually referring to the incident the other night, while he was on guard duty. You know, the demon summoning thing.”
“Oh, is he still talking about that?”
“He's not really talking about it exactly, he is just absolutely terrified and jumping at his own shadow. Something has got to him, for sure. But whenever anyone asks him, he just starts raving about you being some master necromancer who is going to kill us all in our sleep and parade around in our entails.”
The wolfman actually grinned at that. “How long have we been travelling with you now. If I wanted him dead, he would be dead. Seriously Benny – I have no idea what he is talking about. I was sitting there keeping an eye on things, he was playing around with his magic and being his usual irritating self, then suddenly he is running off screaming about demons. All that magic has screwed up his brain.”
“Well, that does happen,” Benny said thoughtfully. “I just can't figure it out. I do believe you. But Jonas is... well, people call him many things – not all of them pleasant – but he is not a liar and not generally prone to hysteria. He certainly believes that something happened. At the moment he is saying that he wants to stay here and won't come with us when we leave again.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Riandur said insincerely. “He does realise that I could just as easily eat him in this place as I could out there, right?”
“I am sure he will come to his senses in a few days.” Leaning forward, the assassin let his eyes drift over the murky surface of the pond again. “There was something there, you know,” he said quietly. “There was nothing there, nothing visible at any rate. But I sensed dark magic in the air.”
Riandur said nothing, but his gaze became more alert and focused.
“I haven't said anything to anybody else,” Benny continued. “If I had to guess, based on past experiences, it felt as though some kind of powerful undead entity had briefly been present. But that makes no sense; why would something like that appear, summon minions and then vanish without attacking?”
Still Riandur said nothing. After a few moments the assassin sat back and shook his head, attempting to dismiss the matter. “Actually I always meant to ask,” he directed at his companion, “can your kind use magic?”
“No,” was the immediate response. “We have no innate magical abilities. Whether one of our kind could learn to cast simple spells over time, I don't know. Why would we want to? We have no practical use for it, and it is considered to be, without exception, abhorrent and a crime against nature.”
Benny nodded. “That's understandable. And perhaps a little ironic considering that both of us could also be considered to be an affront against nature. It's funny really, magic is considered to be the most powerful force in our world... and yet while the ability to change ones appearance is simple, to change ones shape is a skill held only by a handful of very old and very powerful wizards. Yet I have no magical talent and I can perform such a feat with ease – and I don't quite even know why.”
“The reason I hate humans is because from everything I have seen, they are quick to judge.”
There was a long silence. Benny closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face. After several moments, Riandur spoke.
“What you were saying earlier – about feeling the presence of an undead creature? I may be able to explain it. A long time ago, Phellan and I were... abandoned by our tribe and left to die. While we were out in the swamp in a very bad way, I saw something. I can't remember much from that time but I believe that maybe I died and then was somehow brought back for some purpose. I think that what I saw was Death.”
“I see.”
“I do not want Phellan to know anything about this. But if that was Death that I saw, maybe that is what you sensed. If so, it will probably come for me again sooner or later. I am not afraid for myself, but it may take others too.”
Benny nodded, silently reflecting on all of the new information. “Look, Riandur, I know that you aren't big on all the affectionate, lets be best friends stuff – and that's fine. So I promise that I will only say this the once. We are friends, or at least I consider us to be so. If anything happened to you, then I would absolutely look after Phellan. I'd like to think that if anything happened to me then you would keep an eye on Cory and try to prevent Kane doing anything too reckless. Almost every day we are put in positions where we have to trust and depend on each other; and this is no different. I won't say anything about this to anybody else, but you have my word – if Death comes back too soon, we will just kick him right back to his realm. You get me?”
As stoic as ever, the wolfman gave only a small nod in response. But despite the lack of emotion, Benny felt satisfied that something of an understanding had begun to develop between the two of them. He was about to say more when two familiar voices drifted through the garden.
“Watch out for the vines!” Cory warned, his musical voice as soft as ever. “Hey Phellan, look at this plant. It's new.”
“It has teeth,” the younger wolfman exclaimed, the amazement obvious in his tone. “Can we touch it?”
“Oh no!” Unpleasant images shooting through his mind, Benny was on his feet in seconds, but not quite quickly enough. There was a very loud snap. “ Cory? Phellan?”
“The flower ate Cory,” Phellan called back, rather subdued.
There was one such place of refuge – at least for members of Howling Wolves assassin's guild. On the roof of the huge building that served as the hideout to their headquarters, the guild has created their own garden. Using a combination of nature and magic, they grew fruits and vegetables, various herbs for use in making poisons and antidotes, and a few bushes and plants – including batflowers, a plant that looked like it had multiple eyes, and a very large venus flytrap.
Benny could often be found there; when there were no targets for him to take care of and his friends were all safely occupied with other matters. He enjoyed all the noisy and buzzing activity of the city – up to a point. But when they stayed too long, he was overcome with a yearning to be back in the wild; where he could engage in his shapeshifting at will, roll in the grass as a cat, run through the trees as a graceful leopard, or howl at the moon as a wolf. In a world where there were no others like him – and more fear and mistrust than understanding – it was hard to balance his human side with his animal urges.
And even with good friends around him and a lover within the city, sometimes the assassin felt lonely. He would never admit it, even to himself, but it was what it was.
------
It was a warm day and sunlight flooded the garden – which was almost big enough that a person could pretend they were outside of the city, and mostly allowed to grow wild. Sometimes weeds and vines took on a life of their own and would wind around an unsuspecting boot, but Benny was light-footed enough that he found the correct places to tread almost instinctively.
As he headed for his favourite spot, over in an isolated corner where there was a small 'pond' – or at least something that was supposed to resemble a pond – the assassin sensed that he was not alone. He was not surprised to find Riandur there. The oldest of the two wolfmen who accompanied the group, Riandur was semi-feral and disliked human interaction, avoiding it whenever he could. He was sprawled comfortably in the grass, opening his eyes and tensing his body upon hearing footsteps, but relaxing slightly as he saw it was only Benny.
“Is this pond supposed to be full of slime?” was his immediate greeting.
Benny surveyed the hole carefully. The water was thick and black, and did indeed look very close to slime. Nonetheless, he could see several ripples and movements beneath the surface so something was obviously surviving in there.
“I think Randal - ” referencing the guildmaster “ - is trying to get away from the typical garden look.”
“I know, I had a fight with those vines earlier. Someone is going to get killed or eaten up here on day, you just watch.”
“So what was that thing about with you and Jonas?” Benny asked casually, leaning back against the wall and stretching lazily.
Riandur gave him a long look, not bothering to raise his head. “What thing? If this is about me knocking him down those stairs, it was an accident.”
The assassin tried to hide his smile. “I know. But I was actually referring to the incident the other night, while he was on guard duty. You know, the demon summoning thing.”
“Oh, is he still talking about that?”
“He's not really talking about it exactly, he is just absolutely terrified and jumping at his own shadow. Something has got to him, for sure. But whenever anyone asks him, he just starts raving about you being some master necromancer who is going to kill us all in our sleep and parade around in our entails.”
The wolfman actually grinned at that. “How long have we been travelling with you now. If I wanted him dead, he would be dead. Seriously Benny – I have no idea what he is talking about. I was sitting there keeping an eye on things, he was playing around with his magic and being his usual irritating self, then suddenly he is running off screaming about demons. All that magic has screwed up his brain.”
“Well, that does happen,” Benny said thoughtfully. “I just can't figure it out. I do believe you. But Jonas is... well, people call him many things – not all of them pleasant – but he is not a liar and not generally prone to hysteria. He certainly believes that something happened. At the moment he is saying that he wants to stay here and won't come with us when we leave again.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Riandur said insincerely. “He does realise that I could just as easily eat him in this place as I could out there, right?”
“I am sure he will come to his senses in a few days.” Leaning forward, the assassin let his eyes drift over the murky surface of the pond again. “There was something there, you know,” he said quietly. “There was nothing there, nothing visible at any rate. But I sensed dark magic in the air.”
Riandur said nothing, but his gaze became more alert and focused.
“I haven't said anything to anybody else,” Benny continued. “If I had to guess, based on past experiences, it felt as though some kind of powerful undead entity had briefly been present. But that makes no sense; why would something like that appear, summon minions and then vanish without attacking?”
Still Riandur said nothing. After a few moments the assassin sat back and shook his head, attempting to dismiss the matter. “Actually I always meant to ask,” he directed at his companion, “can your kind use magic?”
“No,” was the immediate response. “We have no innate magical abilities. Whether one of our kind could learn to cast simple spells over time, I don't know. Why would we want to? We have no practical use for it, and it is considered to be, without exception, abhorrent and a crime against nature.”
Benny nodded. “That's understandable. And perhaps a little ironic considering that both of us could also be considered to be an affront against nature. It's funny really, magic is considered to be the most powerful force in our world... and yet while the ability to change ones appearance is simple, to change ones shape is a skill held only by a handful of very old and very powerful wizards. Yet I have no magical talent and I can perform such a feat with ease – and I don't quite even know why.”
“The reason I hate humans is because from everything I have seen, they are quick to judge.”
There was a long silence. Benny closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face. After several moments, Riandur spoke.
“What you were saying earlier – about feeling the presence of an undead creature? I may be able to explain it. A long time ago, Phellan and I were... abandoned by our tribe and left to die. While we were out in the swamp in a very bad way, I saw something. I can't remember much from that time but I believe that maybe I died and then was somehow brought back for some purpose. I think that what I saw was Death.”
“I see.”
“I do not want Phellan to know anything about this. But if that was Death that I saw, maybe that is what you sensed. If so, it will probably come for me again sooner or later. I am not afraid for myself, but it may take others too.”
Benny nodded, silently reflecting on all of the new information. “Look, Riandur, I know that you aren't big on all the affectionate, lets be best friends stuff – and that's fine. So I promise that I will only say this the once. We are friends, or at least I consider us to be so. If anything happened to you, then I would absolutely look after Phellan. I'd like to think that if anything happened to me then you would keep an eye on Cory and try to prevent Kane doing anything too reckless. Almost every day we are put in positions where we have to trust and depend on each other; and this is no different. I won't say anything about this to anybody else, but you have my word – if Death comes back too soon, we will just kick him right back to his realm. You get me?”
As stoic as ever, the wolfman gave only a small nod in response. But despite the lack of emotion, Benny felt satisfied that something of an understanding had begun to develop between the two of them. He was about to say more when two familiar voices drifted through the garden.
“Watch out for the vines!” Cory warned, his musical voice as soft as ever. “Hey Phellan, look at this plant. It's new.”
“It has teeth,” the younger wolfman exclaimed, the amazement obvious in his tone. “Can we touch it?”
“Oh no!” Unpleasant images shooting through his mind, Benny was on his feet in seconds, but not quite quickly enough. There was a very loud snap. “ Cory? Phellan?”
“The flower ate Cory,” Phellan called back, rather subdued.
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Date: 2014-10-01 08:44 am (UTC)