Vexile d' Alto

[Ballantyne]

A haze filled Evan’s lungs as he held them still for a brief amount of time. He was at the point in his inhale where the sense of smell was so keen on a strong scent that it actually crossed over into taste, and there was no taste more enjoyable than cinnamon and sugar. His lungs finally gave into their natural impulse pushing the smoke out through Evan’s nostrils and mouth, and before him a magical white cloud curled through the air. It reminded him of flying. A glass of blood red malbec wine complimented his cigar, for its boldness hit his taste buds like liquid peppercorns. For that rare moment in time the other people in the restaurant disappeared.

Completely satisfied with the gifts, Evan leaned across the small circular table and thanked Lilith with a simple. “Hell no.”

“That’s not fair.” Lilith, Evan’s older sister, waved her hands in a quizzical gesture. She wasn’t in a good mood today. Somehow she mustered up the energy to suck up to Evan, treating him to lunch at his favorite spot in Radasanth, a cinnamon sugar flavored cigar, and a nice full bodied red wine, just a few of his favorite things. “Do you even know what I’m about to ask you?”

“I don’t need to. Whenever you suck up to me the task is usually a bad experience for me, like writing a boring proposal for your job, or having sex with one of your ugly friends who has a beautiful personality.” Evan couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as Lilith dropped her head in frustration. She hid behind her veil of black hair and sunglasses, and rubbed her temples as a particularly vocal party of eight passed behind her. Evan had to comment. “Hangover is a nice color on you.”

“Fuck you.” She mumbled.

“No, sister. That would be incest,” Evan raised his voice, not just as a method of public humiliation, but also as a method of torture for Lilith’s sensitive ears. “And I refuse to partake in such a hedonistic sexual act.”

“Quiet down, punk ass!” Lilith took a slice of filet mignon off of Evan’s plate and stuffed it in his mouth by hand. “Suck on that and shut up for a second. I need to think away the pain.”

Evan gave his older sister a moment to relax as he gleefully chewed on his food. It was time to get down to business. “So what do you want me to do?”

“It’s actually what I want us to do… together… as family,” Such vein attempts to send Evan on a guilt trip were never successful. She continued. “A friend from Alerar got word that I was back in Althanas and requested my assistance. A large group of former Mazzra have decided to shake down the town of Vexile ‘d Alto on a regular basis.”

“Where’s the local law enforcement?”

“From what I’ve been told the Mazzra were supposed to be the law enforcement in peace time. At first they were, and then funding from the throne disappeared. Being broke led them to demand money from the civilians of the town for protection. Vexile ‘d Alto refused to give the Mazzra the money so they took it. Over time they took more money, and then they started taking food. About two months ago they abducted three women. Last week they killed a man.”

“And what did your friend want you to do?”

“Two things. Teach them how to defend themselves whilst providing security for the town. It’ll take a while, and we’ll basically have to do it for free.” Lilith shrugged her shoulders. “All they can afford to do is pay for our living expenses, which is why no one else is helping them.”

“Let me finish my lunch and we’ll leave. I figure it’ll take four days to get from Corone to Alerar, so we'd better get our things and get going.” Evan said as he took another bite of his steak. Such a job would have been a pleasure for him to take on. He was surprised Lilith even considered having to butter up to him for something like this, but to tell her that would have really angered her… “I don’t know why you thought you’d have to do all this for me. I would have taken a job like that for nothing.”

“Son of a bitch!”

[Ballantyne]

A three day trip turned into a two week journey due to two things. Evan had gravely miscalculated the distance and commute time, and Ettermire was too enticing not to explore. It took them ten days to reach the Alerarian capital, and for four days he and his sister saw the sights in the most technologically advanced city in the world. The Dark Elves were more hospitable than previously thought. They were well mannered towards the siblings. Their business or company was never refused. Perhaps it was because Lilith had plenty of gold to blow, or perhaps it was because the two looked similar to them. The Alerarian Elf came in various shades of dark, ranging from ashen black to olive tan, and the Ballantynes’ most distinguishing visual trait was their naturally dark skin and their rare brightly colored eyes. With the right stage makeup to point their ears and dye their hair silver they would have easily passed for Alerarians.

It was finally time to head to their destination when one night Evan suddenly came to the harsh realization that anything could have happened to that town by now. He turned to his sister and made the ultimatum. He was leaving for Vexile ‘d Alto… now, and if she didn’t go with him she’d be left behind.

“Oh let me guess.” A tipsy Lilith said as she skipped out of the doors of El’inssring with a clay mug full of beer in her hand. “It’s going to take three days, right?”

Evan was already ahead of her by a few paces. He didn’t slow down for her. “I told you I was thinking of flying with you on my back and a straight shot there. I wasn’t thinking about catching a ferry, countless carriages and a four day pit stop in Ettermire. Now where’s that checkpoint? I know its close.”

“Around that corner.” Lilith had to catch up with Evan as he made a hasty stride down the street. She had to weave in and out of crowds of silver haired elves before she caught up with Evan at the corner. He stood basking in the violet glow of a black lamp that inverted the color of his eyes. These street lights were unnecessary given the fact that the fiery smoke stacks of the local factories made Ettermire’s nights brighter than its days. Lilith rested her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “You needn’t tell my why you’re in a rush all of a sudden.”

“I know,” Evan crossed his arms and stood there waiting for a carriage. “And I don’t plan on it.”

“That’s okay.” Lilith stopped in front of him and mirrored his callous gesture. “I already know. You want to get back to the game, don’t you? It’s been more than a week since you’ve plotted, fought, or struggled. You’ve been well fed, everyone’s been cordial towards you, and you can’t wait one more night before we dive into some treachery.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Evan said with a dry face as he signaled for the next large carriage to stop. Lilith was trying to press Evan’s buttons by calling out his obsession with all things perilous in order to get him to stay one more night. Simply admitting to that obsession didn’t trump her argument. What was one more night after nearly two weeks of lollygagging? He needed to thwart her with pure logic. “The longer we wait the more chances that village has to get exploited.”

“True.” Lilith couldn’t argue against that. By now Vexile ‘d Alto could even be a burnt plot although that wasn’t likely. Nevertheless, Evan and Lilith spent four days in Ettermire taking a small town’s mortality for granted. It wasn’t unusual for someone from the Great South to do such a thing, but that didn’t make it right. They were waiting for the Ballantynes. “And just for relations’ sake, let’s not tell them we took the scenic route.”