Tugging the horse to a stop, Reiss dismounted herself, trying to act dignified but knowing she looked like an idiot. Her time spent riding was always short with her doing her best to hang on until they got wherever they were going and she could get far from the saddle. Crunching through the wild grass and weeds clinging to the cliff's edge, she glanced down at the bone crushing drop to the water. There was no sign of boats skirting near the coast, no sign of anything but the white foam washing back and forth into the rocks below.
"Why are we here?" Reiss asked to thin air. A grunting noise caused her to flip around and she caught Lunet half inside the earth itself. It took a second for the fogs to clear and Reiss to recognize her friend was clinging to a trap door that'd been hidden under the ground with summer's fresh grass growing upon it.
"Told you it was here. This was one of the blighter's smuggling caves. We shut 'em all down and buried most in rock, but this one was too close to the shore. Woulda caused an, uh..." Lunet tapped her thumb, smudging it with fresh dirt, "something bad. Are you coming or not?"
"Sorry," Reiss dashed to her friend's side and peered down the dark hole. A rickety ladder clung to the side but she couldn't see anything down below. "Is it safe?"
"It's a gang's smuggling cave, I'm certain they made sure to put in every safety precaution they could think of," Lunet rolled her eyes skyward and groaned.
Luckily, Reiss had an answer for the darkness. Reaching into her satchel she unearthed one of the crystals the Dalish had. Giving it a good shake, a bright green light hissed from the middle. She held it over the edge and found the descent wasn't as steep as she feared.
"Oi, where'd you get that nifty thing from?" Lunet asked, she began to reach a finger out to touch it, when the trap door shifted lower.
"From the elves, the Dalish elves we helped to..." Reiss shook it off. "I'll go first."
"Bloody do something before I throw my back out," Lunet groaned.
With one hand holding tight to the green crystal, Reiss scurried down the ladder. Her foot touched bottom and she was about to tell Lunet, when a loud whoomph reverberated from above, scattering dust down upon her.
Sputtering to get most of the dirt out of her tongue and off her face, Reiss shouted, "You coulda damn well warned me!"
"Hey, fancy pants royal guard, I'm gonna drop the door," Lunet snickered, her fingers working her quickly down the ladder.
Reiss didn't bother rising to the bait as she began to inch along the cavern. It wasn't wide by any means, but thankfully she wasn't claustrophobic. Most humans would probably fit one at a time at best down here. She felt Lunet bump into her back and tell her to get on with it.
The walls were carved quickly and cheaply, most like by magical explosives one could find on the black market. Dangerous but effective. Reiss began to slide quicker down the hole, her eyes following the green light, when something smacked in her left hip. A loud ding echoed in the cavern from her hilt smashing against a lump of rock jutting right into the path where it hung.
"Maker damn it!" she cursed, trying to feel it to see if there was any damage. Luckily, she didn't hit it head on and was moving slow enough it'd probably buff out.
"Are you certain I shouldn't be the one leading? For starters, my head wouldn't be drowning out all the light," Lunet shouted from behind. She sounded a bit panicky and Reiss restarted walking.
"You wouldn't have brought a light to begin with if you were in charge," Reiss said, trying to distract her friend from the walls.
"Psh, if I was in charge we'd be knees up in a tavern," Lunet grumbled. Reiss could feel her hands skimming both sides of the walls, feeling for anymore lurching surprises but none came. Stepping quickly, Reiss felt a blast of air waft over her face and the sound of water dripping into rippling pools. Space radiated off her and lifting up her lighted arm she could see the proof around her. It wasn't a grand ballroom sized space, but one could easily stack an entire ship's worth of cargo down here and still have space to run an illegal gambling operation.
"Sweet Andraste," Reiss whistled, staggering into the middle of the cavern. Jagged edges of the ceiling reached downward to try and take a bit out of any who passed under, while a small river of water dribbled through the middle. She noticed someone took the time to leave planks of wood overtop sections of it to keep from having to stumble into it.
"Here," Lunet jerked her head. By the eerie green light, she took on an otherworldly glow, her best friend appearing like one of those evil spirits lurking in a forest. The not spirit and probably not evil woman pointed at a wall.
Staggering up a few creaking boards that made a set of stairs, Reiss drew the light across the flattest part of the cavern to reveal three lines undulating like waves. There were four sections, each broken up to represent the various tattoos scattered across the gang. Right there in the middle was the one found inside the dead alchemist's home. She had her answer, it was the Zea dogs. The next challenge was finding wherever they scattered to. "You're right," Reiss nodded while glancing up and down the wall. "I'll be certain to tell Harding about this, to shore up our findings and..."
"Rye, try not to freak out or anything," Lunet whispered through the cave.
Reiss spun away from the wall to find her friend crouching next to a dusty table. "What?" her voice followed Lunet's command and softened.
Without answering, Lunet lifted up a half empty bottle and shook it.
"So, it was an old smuggler's cavern. There's bound to be some contraband left behind," Reiss groaned stepping closer to her friend.
Lunet rolled her eyes and picked up something else to the light, "With a mug still holding some of the poured..." she took a sniff and winced, "paint thinner in it?"
"Flames!" Reiss whipped the crystal around, noticing on dusty barrel's she'd ignored stacks of cards, books left open, and a stack of kindling to light the fire. Where was it? She had to check for ashes...
"Uh," Lunet called from the corner.
Reiss dashed off towards a pile of what she suspected were ashes and stuck her finger in. They were ice cold. "What is it?"
Lunet kicked a box, from which echoed the sound of knives clattering against each other like a jammed cutlery drawer. "They're armed to the teeth."
"We need to leave, now!" Reiss shouted. "Put everything back where you found it."
"It's disgusting down here, I doubt anyone will notice," Lunet whined before sighing, "Fine fine. Clearly no one's here, so I don't get why it's..."
Reiss ignored her as she tried to memorize the size and layout of the cavern. It'd be hard to attack, but sieging with smoke bombs would get them out fast. The trick would be waiting until they were all there. "Come on!" she shouted, already at the cavern's entrance and waiting for Lunet to catch up. Making certain to avoid the jabby rock on her right side this time, Reiss reached the ladder and scurried up. She had to hand down the crystal to push open the trap door before emerging into the same grey day.
Breathing in the dank sea air, Reiss gave out a gasp and a sigh. No one was watching them. She didn't spy any glasses glinting in the distance, but would they in this dark? Perhaps they got lucky and the fog hid their delving. "Come on, come on," she kept on, waving Lunet to follow her as fast as possible. Reiss ran off to grab the horse's reins, not bothering to mount. They had to move fast.
"What are you doing?" Reiss hissed as her friend hovered near the door.
"Making certain to disguise the entrance again with the sod, you idiot," she whispered back. Returning to her work, Reiss knew she was cursing under her breath at her stupidity, but she couldn't make out Lunet's best work under the pounding of the surf. After tapping it with her boot, Lunet chased after her friend and with both holding tight to the horse's reins they walked as fast as they could without appearing in a hurry towards the city.
More of that dreaded sweat dripped down Reiss' shoulder blades and directly towards her butt. She began to regret wearing her full armor on this trip, or potentially any if the summer sun was
going to keep up like this. Trying to wipe as much off as she could by inelegantly reaching between her backplate and skin, Reiss paused to glare into Lunet's chuckling eyes.
"What? It's hot," she explained feeling strangely self conscious from the other elf walking beside her.
"Uh huh," Lunet nodded. They both tugged upon the horse's reins, who snorted on occasion but enjoyed the slow amble down the packed dirt road. No one else seemed to be out and about today, probably wisely all camped inside thanks to the heat. "You're smiling."
"Am not," Reiss snapped back at, fairly certain she wasn't. Even then, she ran her fingers up against her lips to find them flat. Caught in her lie, Lunet gave a hearty bellow that belonged in a tavern and not from the tiny elf. Growling at her, Reiss tugged harder on the reins, pulling horse out of its stupor into a slower trot.
"I know that smile," Lunet continued, "starry eyed, sighing under your breath, practically skipping in your steps."
"Here it comes," Reiss said, trying to shore away her emotions that seemed to be leaking free of her armor.
Jabbing an elbow into the crook between armor and elf, Lunet snickered, "You're shagging, and I'd guess on the regular from the little strut in your walk."
"That, how can?" Reiss gasped, glancing around at the grasses without a care for her private business. "It's not what..."
Lunet, of course, trampled over Reiss trying to disarm the situation without lying. "Is it that tall, dusky elf who works in the secretary pool?"
"What?" Reiss stumbled back to her question and shook her head, "no."
"The thatcher's apprentice? I heard he's got eyes like a stormy kaleidoscope."
"Stormy kaleidoscope? What does that even...? No, not him."
"Okay," Lunet had no intentions of giving this up, "the more rotund one that hooks rugs. Sometimes he's seen near the palace repairing things royalty break."
"Maker's sake, do you know every damn elf in the palace?" Reiss gasped. She'd rarely seen any of them aside from an occasional flit of a pointed ear in her passing.
Shrugging Lunet smiled, "When you were sentenced to your imprisonment behind the castle walls I thought I'd do a little digging. I'm starting to run low though, not many male elves serving up there. Unless..." She paused in scratching her chin to glare at her friend, "You better not be chasing after the ladies without coming to me first."
"No, Lune, it's a man."
"So there is someone honing your sheathe," she grinned, the sly fox proud of its hard won chicken.
"Damn you," Reiss somewhat fake cursed, waving her finger at her friend. But even under the anger at being found out so quickly, she felt excited. She'd been wanting to tell someone about how good it all was. Maybe not any details on the sex bits, but the way he'd fold his body around hers, how he kept pecking kisses against the silliest of places on her, and that for being King he gave damn good foot and calf massages. But she swore herself to secrecy and Alistair, she wasn't about to go breaking it now.
"You're never going to figure it out," Reiss said, zipping her lip and tossing away the key.
"Oh, you forget just how tenacious I am. There's another male elf that works for the grocer, red hair, kinda scraggly but..."
"Nope," Reiss shook her head, savoring each swing of it.
"Maker's taint," Lunet groaned, raking off her helmet to comb her hair up off her forehead. The white of the tape upon her ears glared by the bright sunlight. "I'm running low on options. I think there's a dwarf that serves as part of the merchant's guild to supply the castle with flatware..."
"It's not a dwarf," Reiss chuckled, bouncing back and forth on her feet now. She was acting like the child with a great secret that no one could guess.
"Shame, there are certain...advantages to the height differential," Lunet sighed, her eyes wandering off to the horizon. Denerim waited on the edge, the parapets of the city walls glancing over the top of the hills. "Can you give me a hint?"
"No, that's not fair."
"Ha, you're hardly being fair either," Lunet simmered, no longer happy to be the one with something held over her.
"I already told you," Reiss hummed, "you're never ever gonna guess it."
"This shouldn't be so hard, I mean," Lunet paused in her steps and began to laugh, each breath snorting out of her perfect nose, "it's not like you're sleeping with the King or anything like that."
Reiss' skidded in the ground, her boot missing a divot and nearly causing her to face plant. She kept her focus downward, not able to meet the suddenly piercing gaze of Lunet.
"No, no, no, Rat. Do not tell me you are fucking the King of Ferelden."
"Lune..." Reiss began, trying to wave it all away in a syllable but Lunet shrieked.
"Maker's sake, you fucking are! Of course, how did I miss it? He was sure quick as shit to give chase after your little screaming match in the ballroom. And then you two spent all that time outside 'talking.'"
"It isn't..." Reiss glared, her feet coming to a standstill while Lunet kept sweeping back and forth across the road, "we weren't even anything then. He was being kind."
"But you are now. You're something with-with him! With the King of Ferelden. For fuck's sake, he's a shem!"
"And you're with a dwarf!" Reiss shouted back, her legs beginning to tremble.
"Last I checked the dwarves didn't chase us all from our homes, round us up into the shitholes they call alienages, and on occasion murder half of us as something to do for Satinalia. Shems, remember. For the ballsack on the Maker, you've already been down this road before!"
"He's nothing like Ethan!" Reiss felt her voice crack, the anger filling her marrow like hot lead. She was frozen in spot, but feeling more and more invulnerable with each verbal attack.
"How do you know that? How do you know all shems ain't the same? Cause they are. You didn't grow up near 'em, don't know," Lunet jabbed a finger in the air as if she kept making a salient point instead of letting her internal hatred show.
"I grew up with nothing but humans, I know the depths they can reach. You're not imparting some great ancient elven wisdom upon me," Reiss hissed, lashing forward to get into Lunet's face.
"Really? Cause you're always the one going on about how we should be nice and understanding as they butcher us in the streets," Lunet mocked, curtseying with her words.
"I never..."
"Or what? Do you think you're like Orlais' official whore? Get just good enough in bed and maybe you can steer the man to fight for elven rights. Because that's so how it works, Rat."
Dread and pain rolled up Reiss' gut, her face flinching as her once best friend all but called her a whore. That wasn't it at all. "You don't understand, you won't even listen," she tried, attempting to steer Lunet back to some understanding.
"I know he's married. How's that gonna work out in your little love story?"
"You're married!" Reiss threw back at her.
"Right, to a pig fucking arsehole that I never gave two craps about. I don't see that shitallope ever. How are you gonna deal with sitting down to breakfast with his wife glaring right across from you? Or has he already convinced you that he'll ditch the Queen for the knife-ear that's already sucking him off?"
Her fists squeezed together, the knuckles popping out of her flesh. Both screamed at Reiss to let them smack Lunet across her pretty and perfect nose, but instead she shook them at the air and screamed, "Stop it! Stop doing this! Why are you doing this?!"
"Because I'm trying to get through that thick, always certain she's right skull how royally fucked up this is," Lunet reached over to try and tap into Reiss' head in an almost playful manner but she jumped back. A fist swung near Lunet, which she was quick enough to dodge. "Is that how it's gonna be then?"
"You're the one being unreasonable. You won't even listen," Reiss gasped.
"What's there to say? You're screwing a married human who also pays you. Is that why your salary's so high? He expected some extra work put in after dark?"
"Fuck you!" Reiss screamed
, her face bright red and spittle flying from her mouth. Cracking, she shouted the curse a few more times, not caring what Andraste or the Maker or anyone else thought. Not even Lunet's opinion mattered. "You don't understand! You won't even listen! You just want to stick me into your play house to dance about like a puppet to your whims!"
"Is that what you think?" Lunet slid away from her and glanced up at the sky. "Shit, you're more gone than I thought."
"You don't know him."
"Maybe not, but I know shems. He's gonna chew you up and spit you out when he's tired, or bored, or something better comes along. It's how they work, how they all do." Lunet shook her head madly before squaring her shoulders. Jamming on her helmet, she began to walk down the road towards Denerim. Reiss watched her, a sneer stretching her face to the breaking point while Lunet continued her set march back to the same guardhouse they used to share. Why didn't she understand? Why couldn't she just be happy for her for once? He was different, Reiss knew it in her gut.
A good thirty feet away, Lunet turned to Reiss clinging tight to her horses reins to shout, "We're not people to them, we're little trinkets they collect on their shelves. You're gonna learn it the hard way, Rat."
Cursing under her breath, Reiss mounted onto the horse, yanking so hard on the bridle he whinnied in anger. Barely noticing, Reiss dug into the flank, spurring the horse into a frenzied gallop. Pounding down the lane, she left Lunet in a literal cloud of dust while tears of anger burned in Reiss' eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Math of the Stars
She didn't realize she fully worried the drawstring out of her tunic until it flopped onto her lap. Growling at the idiocy of having to spend the time stuffing it back into the loops tomorrow, Reiss focused all her anger upon it instead of the gloom hanging over her head. She acted pleased but aloof while delivering the good news to Harding, doing her damnedest to not think anything about how Lunet was going to spill the beans the first chance she had to her girlfriend. Or how her once good friend would convince Harding of her same thoughts. Lune had that kind of charm that would bowl a person over to her side whether they wanted to be there or not.
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