Devon and Nerissa - Part One Here| Raffaele and Nerissa - Part Two Here
"Boy, you know there aren't any ships around here going across the seas. At least not for a few months when the trade routes are more active," Bones, the old barkeep at one of the taverns on the dock said to him in his scratchy and broken voice. The man looked ancient and like he was near a skeleton figure, hence the nickname given to him. Devon didn't even know his real name.
The Rogue dipped his head back and closed his eyes in frustration for a moment, letting out a breath. "I know. Figured I would ask anyway in case you heard something."
"What's got you in such a rush anyway?" The man leaned in a bit closer as he continued wiping the bar with a rag as not to be heard by the others who were mingling about in his establishment that night. "Your business doesn't take you that far."
"No, this is personal," Devon replied quietly, looking down to the mead in a moment of despair that he'd been gifted by Bones before drinking the nearly full cup down in one go. He shook out his shoulders and let the feeling fade. Failing Nerissa was not an option. They had to find a way. He would find a way.
He slid the empty drink towards Bones for a refill, dumping some coin on the bar top to pay for it as well as the information and storehouse the Rogues got to use here for their newly acquired hauls. Devon leaned on the bar and waited until he felt someone entirely too close for his liking at his back. His hand lowered casually to rest on his thigh, near to the dagger around his waist.
"No need for that," the unfamiliar voice came. It was low and calm, but Devon didn't move his hand. The man put his back against the bar and looked over to him. He had a dark complexion and accent that meant he wasn't from around here. Devon tried to think of who he might be and when he possibly slighted him or whoever he worked for in the past. From his demeanor alone, he knew this person was not going to be easy to take on if it came to it. "We should talk outside."
He raised an eyebrow and scoffed at the request. "No, thanks. I'm enjoying a quiet drink with my friend here," Devon replied, raising the cup up towards Bones who had just placed it down and gave a wary look to the stranger.
"It's about Nerissa." This caught his attention. Devon turned fully to the man now and stood up to face him, his hand gripping on the handle of the dagger. "The fae king has her."
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Never in his life had Devon felt as ill as he did now. The world was a complete blur. All he remembered was walking through the forest and then everything went askew. His head was pounding and his stomach turned. He'd thrown up the contents of his stomach twice and then there was nothing but dry heaving after. He stumbled onward until he could no more finally falling face first into the ground, going in and out of consciousness.
A shadow seemed to wrap him up and it felt like he was flying. Odd thing for a human to be doing. Despite how completely out of it he was, Devon realized it was this Raffaele who was carrying him since he could no longer walk. His mind was too in a fog to even process what was happening, but then there were bright spots of light coming from a massive tree and he was being dumped onto the floor. Or what he thought was a floor. It was more like moss covered grass, soft and cool, which was a slight relief on his dampened skin given how he was feeling.
There were figures around him, but he couldn't quite make them out. One he did recognize, even though his mind was dazed. "Nerissa?" She appeared to be on her knees and bound. Devon pulled himself up slightly, but slipped back to the ground.
"Humans..." A new voice. Condescending and smug. The person was in front of him, pushing his barefoot against his shoulder and knocking him back over with ease. "So weak."
"If you don't give him the wine, he won't last much longer." Raffaele's voice then. Devon felt like he was being stabbed by a thousand needles in his insides. Raffaele had warned him this would be the outcome of entering into the fae kingdom as well as whatever the king wanted to do in the way of torture, but the Rogue didn't care. If the king had Nerissa, it meant her death and maybe now his.
The king, or so he presumed must be the king, stepped away from him and walked back over to Nerissa with a delighted, but unnerving smile. "Tell me everything or you get to watch him die. Painfully."
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As the king’s harsh condescending tone filled her ear she felt the tears wish to well up in her eyes but her time to process was cut as his fingers wrapped around her throat squeezing. The memories of the vines she had wrapped around his throat in her escape from him not long ago played out. Her hands moved to grip his wrist as she gasped softly. Panic full in her eyes as she met his icy gaze. Struggling to keep her sense about her she whimpered out, a weak hand slapped against his arm. As her body started to grow limp with weak smacks against the king's arm she felt her body crumble to the ground. Automatically her longs filled with air once his hand released her.
She felt like she was hearing everything underwater as Kyan demanded that Raffaele go after Devon. “No…” left her but it was too soft for anyone but Raffaele to hear as she grasped at the floor to gain a sense of self. Her letter, how stupid could she have been to leave the letter out for others to find. She should have hid it in their spot, but she was in a rush. ‘Please don’t hurt him! Leave him be!’ was all her brain was screaming as she tried to regain herself between the ragged breaths she was drawing in.
Feeling the blade against her neck she knew she could press her head to it and end this all, as her gaze moved to Raffaele pleading eyes. If she killed herself right then and there, she couldn’t keep Kyan from killing Devon out of anger. Dropping her gaze from the Sanguine that had showed her kindness she knew that there was no reason in fighting the king anymore. Defeated was the closest emotion Nerissa could come to accept in that moment. Left alone with the Fae king wasn’t an option she liked either. Feeling the bindings wrapped around her she did as she was told and stayed quiet fearing the wrath of the mad king.
Time passed and there he was being held up by Raffaele, “Devon.” She got out before feeling the tightening of the binds from whos ever magic. He looked in rough shape, and if it wasn’t for the fact the Sanguine was so put together in an unnerving situation she was sure he would look the same. “Stop!” Nerissa screamed as Kyan pushed Devon over fighting against the binds. “He has nothing to do with this!” She cried out towards the mad king.
The tears fell down her face as she watched how weak and in pain Devon was. “I would have told you without you bringing him here to torture him. You sick bastard.” She settled back against the tight binds as she stared at the king. “Torture me not him.” She said as she then sighed before looking over to Devon once more. “The Ironspring’s of the Redwood forest are cursed, or that is the best way I could put it. In order to keep the forest and clan prosperous whenever an Ironspring girl is birthed, she is to be sacrificed to the mother tree.” Her gaze went to Raffaele for a moment before looking back to the king.
“I was lucky enough to be born the first girl in many generations, I was groomed my whole life knowing that when I turned eighteen my life was over. I was allowed to do whatever I wished as long as it was in the castle walls. Given anything I wanted because after all it was to be a short life. When I turned Eighteen, I went into the mother tree and met a version of myself that wanted me to cut my wrist and give my blood to the seed within the mother tree. I panicked. I was scared, I didn’t want to die so I picked up the seed and ran out of the tree.”
“When I left the tree I was greeted by a confused clan, the tree started to turn black and my people with it. They transformed into monsters and started attacking me, so I ran. I enclosed my home with magic that seemed stronger with the seed in my hand and found my way to England.” She said as she hung her head then. “I was a coward, I should have just ended my life for my people. I was going to fix it, I was making plans with Devon to return to my home and try to fix the mess I made. If nothing worked…I was going to do what I should have done that night when it all happened.”
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