Throw them bones!

  • Thread starter viperslate13610
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When Davin had come to, it was dark. They clouds that were once overhead had been dispersed entirely now and the stars shyly illuminated the ground. He looked around groggily for Fyfe who he found was sitting by a fire the she had made. He felt a little chill blow across him. He looked down at himself to realize that he was damn near stark naked but he was to out of it to care. He tried to sit up but couldn't move from the pain. "Fyfe..." he said croakily. "Thanks for patching me up." he said with an attempted chuckle that ended in coughing and pain. "I'm glad you had my back." he said before trying to get up again with the same result as before. He checked where he was bitten. The teeth in his arm had been removed. "Hey... There is a small bag of white poltice in my robes. I suggest that if you were bitten you put some under your tongue and on the spot you were bitten. What most people don't realize is that preventing and curing vampirism is exceedingly simple..." he said smiling.
 
Fyfe started as she heard Davin speaking to her. Looking to him, she sees how he tries to get up, but fails a couple times. Nodding as he told her what to get from his robes, she dug through the folds of fabric, finding the bag he had told her about. Finding a place where bite marks were on her arm, she dabbed a little of it there before placing a bit under her tongue, grimacing at the taste and texture. Moving next to him, she did the same with his wounds, not letting him do it himself as she didn't want him to hurt himself. "Are you...are you okay?" she asked afterwards, looking into his eyes.
 
"I think so..." he said, trying not to spit out the poultice. "Thish shtuff shtings... An it tashts awful..." he said while it was still dissolving. He spoke again once the horrible tasting mixture was gone. "I'm fine." he said smiling. "I notice a chill in the air tonight. Might just be because I'm half naked though." he said with a laugh. "Have you burned the bodies?" he asked her more out of habit than curiosity.
 
Fyfe smiled at his comment, but answered his question with a shake of her head and, "I haven't. I wanted to make sure you were well before I did..." Trailing off, she looks around at the mass of corpses that littered the ruins of the town. "Do you want me to help you into your robes?" she asks him, looking back to him, smiling.
 
"Yes. Please..." he said, attempting to get up and this time succeeding. He shivered slightly as a cool breeze blew right through him. "Let's lay these poor souls to rest and then go home..." he said smiling. Finally he would prove himself to his father and earn his title as a full Rune Priest.
 
"Home..." Fyfe murmured softly, smiling sadly, as Davin mentioned it. Gathering his robes, she went behind him, slowly guiding his arms through the sleeves. When that was finished, she attempted to arrange them across his chest like they had before she'd taken his clothes off, but she had been in a hurry then, and couldn't remember what they had looked like. Looking to him for help, she grinned sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to show him that she was confused.
 
"Thanks." he said laughing and Fyfe's confusion and finished dressing himself. "We should gather up the bodies and arrange them. They deserve proper rest." he said, his tone turning solemn. After about an hour all the bodies they could find had been arranged and Davin began the ceremony.

"Any gods who would listen, we commend these souls to rest. We free them from their earthly bonds and set them on the Afterpath." he said. He sprinkled herbs from a pouch over the arranged corpses. "May the present dead hold no vengeance in thier hearts or anger in thier souls. May they find peace on the Afterpath." he said, once more dispersing a handful of herbs. "Forgive them any transgressions or wrongdoings they made in life, for on the Afterpath all walk without the burden of guilt. We give them to rest eternal." he said, finalizing the ceremonial prayer. He put the herbs away and produced a small bottle of oil, pouring a small ammount of its contents over each of the bodies. He placed the bottle back in his robes. "Forbidden Sigil. Fire..." he said, holding his hand before him. A tiny lick of flame danced from his palm to the arranged bodies and they caught alight instantly.

"We should make our way now..." he said, steadying himself on Fyfe's shoulder.
 
During the ceremony, Fyfe was moving her lips wordlessly, her eyes half closed, sending her own prayer to the god that had saved her all those years ago and had taken care of her thereafter. Trying to keep from crying afterwards, she listened silently to Davin's words, gazing down at the bodies. When he lit the bodies, she had to look away so she wouldn't lose her willpower not to let the tears that she was barely holding back fall.

Looking back when Davin spoke to her, she nodded solemnly, and though she knew the hand he placed on her shoulder was so he wouldn't fall down, it reassured her a little.
 
"It's ok to cry, you know..." he said. He stopped and put his arms around her. Half so he kept balance but mainly to comfort her. "Crying is what reminds us that we are human..." he said smiling. "I remember that I cried myself to sleep the day I lost you over the falls. My father searched for almost three days without rest for you. He was so confident that you were alive... When he couldn't find you, he just sat in the house and refused to eat. I tried cooking his favorite things, but he refused to eat. I remember all the fun times we had together too..." he said smiling. "Its the good and the bad that makes us... Well, us."
 
Fyfe couldn't help but begin crying as he told her about how her disappearance hurt him and his father and then smile as he said that he remembered before she went over the falls. Returning the embrace he pulled her in, she buried her face in his shoulder, softly sobbing into the fabric. When she could cry no more, she pulled away gently before saying, "We should probably start going..." Not knowing how long she had been crying, she wanted to go as soon as possible, before her emotions got the better of her again today.
 
Dawn rose as they set down the road that they had traversed not a day ago. Davin smiled to himself. His father would be proud, his mother would have her little boy back, the villiage would be twice as safe... And there was a good chance he would have a future wife. At this point in his train of thought he blushed. His strength began to return to him and every now and again he would walk on his own and then return to steady himself on Fyfe's shoulder. As the sun rose a little higher and the morning dew began to evaporate, they passed thier old campsite. "I think we should take a break." he said, limping over to a nearby stump and sitting down. "Besides, we have a lot to fill each other in on. I'm sure a lot has happened in the past ten years." he said taking a sip from his canteen.
 
For the most part, Fyfe was silent during their traveling, lost in her thoughts. It was only when they reached the old campsite that she returned to the present, sitting next to him on a patch of grass along the side of the road. Laughing as he said that they had a lot to catch up on, she nodded. It was true: while there wasn't much to say on her part, she wanted to know everything that had happened in the village she had grown up in, if those she had known as a child were still there. Smiling, she asked, "How's everyone at home?"
 
"Well, for the most part, they are fine. Some of the elders have passed away though, but it is to be expected." he said. "The old dairy farm that was owned by George Bramble burned down. Apparently it was a wayward candle, but I still think somebody did it on purpose." he said whispering the last few words and chuckling. "Then there's old Mrs. Gjunderson. She's still kicking, believe it or not... She's almost six hundred years old... She's seen Emperors rise and fall. Amazing woman. Amazing witch too." he said, his mind drifting into imagination. "My great grandfather trained under her." he said smiling. "Your turn." he said to Fyfe. "What have you been doing all these years? And where did you learn to fight like that?" he said laughing.
 
Fyfe was quiet as Davin told her about the village, occasionally chuckling with him. However, she stopped dead when he told her that it was her turn to tell her story of the last ten years. "As I've told you, I was in an old temple with a god...At least, I think he's a god. If he was a demon, he would've killed me, wouldn't he?" smiling ruefully, she continued. "As I got older, he said I'd start wanting to leave, and, knowing how dangerous it was outside of his small temple, began teaching me. I never beat him," she said with a laugh, remembering all the times she'd tried to get the better of him and failing, "but I suppose that's why he's a god...if a young girl could best a god, what sort of god is he?" She was silent for a few moments before starting again, "After a while, I did want to leave the temple, and he let me, giving me my swords and things and sending me on my way..." Trailing off, she looked back to him, smiling. "I only wish I knew his name, so I could properly thank him..."
 
"There are many small gods that dot the world. Hidden temples and such even lie buried under rocks and in caves and even lie in shifting sands." he said dreamily. "You were lucky to find one of these small gods. They don't normally take visitors." he laughed. "We should probably try to get to an inn before nightfall. If I'm not mistaken, there should be one not a few hours journey from here. It would be good to sleep in a proper bed again..." he said standing up. He was much more stable than before, however he still clung to Fyfe just in case.
 
Fyfe smiled as Davin spoke, remembering the small temple backed against a wall of mountains that overlooked a rolling plain as far as the eye could see. It almost never had ill weather, and during the summertime when the butterflies would be about, it made the entire place look dazzling. Looking up as he said that they should probably find somewhere to spend the night at before night actually fell, she couldn't help but agree with him. She didn't fancy another night sleeping on the ground, and underneath a roof again would be wonderful. Letting him balance on her shoulder again, she went with him, eager to reach the inn he had spoken of.
 
After a few hours journey, they arrived on the outskirts of a small, grubby looking town. The sort that looked like it was run by a den of thieves and smugglers. "Here it is I guess..." said Davin worriedly. "The inn should be just up the road here." he said with a little more confidence. As they walked, a drunkard staggered up to the pair, slurring and muddling his words, hand outstretched, probably expecting coin. "Push..." Davin whispered, two fingers toward the drunkard which pushed him just enough off balance to have him slip and pass out in a puddle of mud. General laughter was heard in the direction of a few onlookers outside a pub.
 
After she took a quick look at the town, Fyfe moved slightly closer to Davin, her hand instinctively moving to her bag as a worried light came to her eyes. When the drunk man approached them, her hand then moved to one of her swords, just in case, but it proved to not be needed, as Davin made him head off. Not being able to truthfully say that she wasn't smiling at least a little as he fell, she ducked her head, letting her hair fall over her face so Davin couldn't see it, and continued following him.

((Sorry it took so long, I've been house-hunting...))