by C S » Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:33 am
Desrium glances from side to side as he walks along the path. He was alone outside, save for the creatures of the night, that hid in the shadows. Their eyes shone in the darkness while the rest of their features couldnt be discerned. The shops had closed, open spaces were now covered by wooden boards, locked in place by chains. He could see flickering fire light in the windows of homes, and a few smoke trails rising from chiminies. His crimson eyes flared up, learning about the purpose of the columns of stone. "Must be a cool night" The armored being thought. He never took a notice to temperature. It was always chilled within his metal shell. Not too long later, he found an alley way that he thought would be a good place to spend the night. A long gap between buildings, with tattered drapes hanging from an old scafolding. Wooden crates were stacked up one ontop the other. It was just about all he could've hoped for if he wanted to stay out of the way. Just as he was about to step in, he heard a scratching sound that seemed to be approaching . It couldnt be human. Along with the noise were snorts and grunts, obviously an animal. As the sounds drew closer, Desrium could hear a voice, feminine. He turned around to see a strange sight. A lizard like animal with brown leather bindings wrapping around its snout and upper torso, not impeding the creature's range of motion. Its scaley hide was a dark blue color, easilly mistaken for black in the darkness, with a golden underbelly. On its neck were thin, vibrant green and blue flaps pasted to its scales. It stopped when it saw the armored figure and reared up on its hind legs, letting its fore limbs hang at its sides. The strange flaps shot out, revaling themselves to be frills that had a batwing structure when extended. The frills fluttered about rappidly and erratically as the reptillian animal let out a deep rumbling growl. "Settle down Perioul!" The voice called out from behind. The large creature turned its head to the side, revealing large light brown eyes set under a boney crest on its broad head that transitioned into a slender snout. Perioul cocked his head, as if asking the person behind him a question. “Down you defensive Frondfoot!” The voice said. Perioul swung his head about to face Desrium again and lowered himself onto all fours again. ”I can see what startled you…” He heard the lady say. Desrium spotted the creature’s long claws, the talons situated on five spaced out toes and fingers. “That explains the scratching…” He said to himself. He looked up from the creature’s claws to the thing strapped to it. A large wooden cart with all sorts of carry ons tied down onto it. An open case was in his view, inside were several large books, like the one he saw the dragon exile read. At the front of the cart was a woman in a long though thin coat that went all the down to her shins. She had black pants on and boots with a silver buckles on the side. Her hair was dark and was blown about by a breeze. In one hand she held the two ropes attached to restraints on the back of the lizard’s head “I take it you’re the traveller that showed up some time ago?” She asked. “How’d you know?” Desrium replied. She smiled and said “Well, word spreads fast in this town, and I havent seen another ‘tall, straight postured stranger with even stranger armor on’ around here before now” Desrium chuckled. “That’s how Ive been described?”
“Just about. Some people here just wait for something out of the ordinary to happen so they can go on a tangent about how extraordinary it is” The woman replied. “So, are you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Desrium inquired. “Your name!” The lady said matter of factly. “Manners. Hardly anyone has them anymore”
“Of course. My name’s Desrium. What may yours be?” The armored figure replied. “Syria” The dark haired woman replied. “A pleasure to meet you” Desrium said after a short moment, his eyes glowing as he learned about greetings. He bowed his head politely to both show respect to Syria and keep her from noticing. “And…Perioul, was it?” He asked as he raised his gaze, his crimson eyes back to normal – as normal as they could be- and looked at the lizard. Its tail was held up underneath the cart by restraints, so it wouldn’t get caught in its wheels, but Desrium saw it shake back and fourth. It reminded him of his encounter with the Unicorns, how they stood apprehensively around him, swishing their tails about. “Yeah, Perioul” Syria replied, leaning forward to pat the lizard’s shoulder. “He’s rude, tempermental and downright difficult at times, but a hard worker and dependable.” The corners of the creature’s maw curved upwards and he held his head up, turning it from side to side to show off his frill flaps. “And he’s quite vain” Syria added with a chuckle, sitting up again. “You two must’ve been together for a while now” Desrium said. Syria nodded “And we’ll be together for longer still. Frondfoots are notorious for living long” A split second after she said that, she realized that she had to get going again. “Well Desrium, Ive got to get to where Im needed- say, why are you out so late anyway?”
“I was at the lake” Desrium replied. “Doing what?” Syria asked. “Watching the moon. Have you seen the way it rises over the mountains?”
“…Not really” She replied. “Usually most of us are inside by dusk. The only reason Im still up is because I just came back from picking up some things for the inn”
“I see” Desrium replied. “A pity. Its quite a sight”
“…Right” Syria replied, before asking “Do you have a place to spend the night perchance?”
“I was just about to head in” Desrium said, gesturing to the alley. “Oh dear…” Syria said, shaking her head. “That wont do. Why don’t you come with me to the inn? Its not too far up this path here, and I could get you a room and work out a payment rate”
“That’s the thing Syria, Ive got no money, I couldn’t pay you even if I wanted to”
“You mean to tell me all you do is wander around? You don’t get a job? How did you get that armor-“ She stammered a bit before asking “How long have you been living like this?!”
“Not as long as you’d think” Desrium replied plainly. The corner of Syria’s mouth twitched. She took a deep breath and said “Well, if your willing to work for your keep, you can come with me to the inn. I could use some help there and I wont feel right letting you stay out here…so…what do you say?”
“I say, I have an affinity for coming across kind strangers” Desrium replied. “I accept your offer”
“Very well then” Syria said. Almost instinctually, Perioul started to walk off towards the inn while Syria leaned back against her seat on the cart, with Desrium walking along side the lizard.
