Chapter Text
The room was dimly lit. Waves crashed on the sides of the hold-- it was windy tonight-- as the boat rocked like a cradle, lulling her occupants to sleep.
More like to their deaths.
A red-cloaked Magister stood at a desk, eyes trained on two collared figures in shackles at the other side of the room. From what she, Magister Siwan, had heard, the duo had given the retrieving party some difficulty-- word had come that the two Elves were Sourcerers from a helpful traveler looking to do some good.
For whatever reason, the two Sourcerers were very reluctant to leave their little village. Didn’t they realize that it was to keep the Void at bay?
Magister Siwan shook her head. She wondered how badly they had it-- she had heard that extra sedative had been required when these two had been particularly feisty.
She looked down at their files.
She looked up a few minutes later when the pale Elf girl groaned as she woke.
Well, good to see their vocal chords worked.
-----
Ally awoke, the quiet throbbing at the front of his skull utterly forgotten when he realized he was imprisoned in some sort of contraption. He quickly tried to pull out of it, but stopped when he came to the realization that, well, it was made of steel. Quickly, he checked his surroundings, and was surprised to see a Magister conversing with his sister.
Seeing his sister was a small balm to his soul, but what was more on his conscious mind was what the Magister was saying to his sister.
“--awake! Get your bearings, and then head to the top deck.”
And then the Magister was walking, swift steps over and pulling a lever, which caused the wood bed thing that Ally was on to suddenly jolt upright. His head snapped back, hitting the wood, and he groaned in pain. The shackles came undone in a mechanical motion, and he slid off the platform and to his knees, cradling his now-throbbing head.
His sister came over, her light blue brows furrowed in worry, asking softly, “Lyli, are you all right?”
He waved at her, grunting. He needed a second.
She nodded and sat on her knees, watching his face worriedly as he sorted out his brain and fought through a hazy fog of sedation.
How much had they used, anyway?
Too much, he answered himself. Too much.
He looked from the side of his eyes at his sister and attempted a smile. It came out as more of a grimace.
She offered an unsure smile back, before standing and offering him a hand, which he gladly took and hoisted himself up.
He rested his arm on her head-- she was two heads shorter than him, after all-- and gestured at the hold before them, “Let’s explore, shall we?”
Enna’s deep obsidian eyes widened in alarm as she whipped her head around to gawk at his very suggestion of mischief, “What? No, that- that’d be wrong of us! We were supposed to head upstairs as soon as we got our bearings!”
Ally rolled his eyes. Enna needed to live a little.
“C’mon, let’s move these crates.”
He started to drag the oversized boxes out of the way of a door.
She worried her fingernails for a moment before relenting and joining him, finally giving in, as she usually did to his schemes.
Together, they dragged the last crate out of the way, and he stepped first into an… an animal sty, oddly enough.
He hummed thoughtfully, “Wonder why they’re carting around a sheep. Think it’s a cult sacrifice?”
Enna elbowed him in the shoulder as she rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, “Lyli…”
He grinned, tempted to ruffle her pastel peacock blue hair, “I know, Little One. C’mon, let’s see what’s beyond this door.”
She nodded, committed to his plans now, and helped him search for the key when they discovered it was locked.
When she found the key, she grinned triumphantly and turned to face her dark-skinned brother, who was half-inside a hay bale. She smothered a laugh, at which he poked his face out of the other side of the haystack and grinned at her, hay stuck at all odd angles in his obsidian hair.
She pointed to the key, trying not to smile at her brother’s antics, “I found it.”
He nodded and extricated himself from the hay, trotting over to her as she slid the key into the lock and turned it.
A hallway greeted them, and Ally trotted ahead as Enna stopped to read a note on the counter.
Ally was the first to spot the pressure plates on the floor, humming in interest.
And then Enna spoke, “Lyli, we can move the box and the barrel onto those pressure plates and it should open the door.”
Ally nodded, and proceeded to grab the little wooden box next to the cabinet on his left, carting it from there to on top of the pressure plate, which made a clicking noise.
Enna, meanwhile, moved across the room and grabbed the barrel, rolling it onto the other pressure plate. When she heard the second click and the door swung open, she grinned broadly at her brother.
He grinned back, and they moved through the door, and straight into some oil.
Let it be said that oil and ooze, the two ‘o’ materials, are by far the worst to walk on, and as a result both Enna and Ally were picking up their feet and crinkling their noses in disgust as they tried, unsuccessfully, to get across the sticky, slimy surface without exposing too much of their feet to the disgusting sensation.
It slowed them down considerably, and then they were trying to scrape it off their feet as they observed the room before them.
A man in a cage, a Magister-- asleep.
Enna’s eyes sparkled mischievously as she saw the Magister-- it was her turn to have some fun.
She tip toed over as Ally walked down to the cage to speak to the prisoner in a whisper, and she ever-so-gently…
Booped him.
Right on the nose.
The Magister groggily opened his eyes, “Wha-- is it time fo’ shift change?”
She shook her head ruefully, “No, my brother and I were exploring, and you were asleep; it’s not good to sleep on the job, you know!”
That was when the Magister decided to realize that Enna and Ally were Sourcerers, as he drew his weapon, “You- You’re Sourcerers! Well, you’re honest, I’ll give you that, but you shouldn’t be here. Go back the way you came, and quickly, or I’ll be forced to make you.”
Enna sighed. Why couldn’t anyone just be peaceful? At least he was civil enough not to try to kill them right then and there.
She nodded, though, “Lyli, come on, let’s go.”
Ally cast a glance at the prisoner, then at his sister, then at the prisoner, before deciding that it wasn’t worth it and that the prisoner was probably in a cage for a reason.
He shrugged as he turned towards the door, drawling with a cheeky smirk on his face, “Aw, come on, I was just having fun.”
Enna walked up behind him and started pushing on his upper back to hurry him along, “We’ll be out of your hair in just a second, Magister, sir. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
The Magister kept a wary eye on the siblings until they were out of the room.
The prisoner spat on the floor, “Gods dammit.”
The siblings went back to the dimly lit room, as the waves continued to pound on the hull.
And thus it began.