Re: (IC) 1: The Rescue
As Althaea left, pushing the deep velvet curtain aside, it wasn't long before she could hear Aleena scrambling behind her, knocking a couple things over in the process of her haste. The same curtain opened shortly after, and out came Aleena, hopping while still putting on one of her gold colored sandals.
Just wait up, will you. I'm coming, I'm coming. You are more mischevious than I expected Althaea, I'm impressed. I LIKE this side of you. Maybe we can be friends after all. With a devilish smile, she finally caught up and was walking in tandem with Althaea.
Aleena kept quiet for the rest of the walk, which was unlike her, as she spent most of her time taunting others or putting oil on a fire. As they got closer to the cave entrance where they knew the hunters to be, Aleena popped off for a second to grab one of the bottles from the inn. By the time she returned, Althaea was already standing patiently at the curtain, waiting for Victoria's instructions. Aleena stood beside her, looking Althaea over for a second, seeing that the lid of her bottle was off and in her opposite hand, so she followed suit. Aleena whispered with a sarcastic tone: Well that makes a lot more sense. I was wondering how the bottles would fill with the caps still on. Any other instructions I'm missing, princess?
Althaea didn't even entertain the thought of giving her an answer.
It wasn't much longer before Victoria called out to the both of them, reminding them to keep their eyes closed until she said to open them, and waited for them to enter. Once they did, she told them to walk slowly forward, and when they got to the right spot, told them to stop. Both Althaea and Aleena felt Victoria's hands on them, moving them slightly about to get them into the perfect positions. Once satisfied, she walked back facing the hunters and began chanting. It wasn't long before the room had an electric energy and buzz to it, like the calm before a storm. The two women couldn't see anything specific, but a deep, dark purplish hue lit up the room and could be seen even through their closed eyes. The air crackled and hummed with power; both Althaea and Aleena could feel dirt sprinkling them from the ceiling and hoped that the whole mountain wasn't coming down on top of them.
The hunters groaned in pain, but Althaea and Aleena were oblivious as to why...
Victoria watched as the blood was being pulled through and siphoned out of the hunter's pores; a mist of red slowly forming above their heads and coalescing into two amorphous pools of blood. The process was excruciating for the hunters; both physically and mentally draining.
We're almost done. Just a little bit longer! Victoria said, holding on to her magic with dear life, groaning in the process.
It was at that point, that Aleena screamed a blood curdling scream.
Enough! What are you doing to her? Althaea said, just as she felt the weight of her bottle growing.
She opened her eyes! There's nothing we can do for her now; if I stop, the hunter's will die too!
She's dying! Can I bear some of the magic for her? There must be something we can do?!?!
If you open your eyes, you will die. You can not bear this burden for her. She chose to disobey the instructions and she is paying the price.
Althaea jumped to the only action she could think of and that was to get help. Using the hand still holding the lid to the bottle, she pointed with her index finger in the direction of the curtain covering the cavern entrance, sending a message to Sebastian:
Thorn refused to help the hunters, so I asked Aleena. Something has gone terribly wrong. Get a healer and come quick. Do not enter until you are told.
Aleena's scream was short lived, suddenly changing to a gurgling sound as Althidon's blood, once the floating mass, now surged forward into her mouth and eyes. Choking on the blood that now filled her mouth and throat, Aleena couldn't hold on any longer...and let her bottle go. The bottle came crashing to the ground and shattered, leaving glass shards along the dirt covered cavern floor. Aleena's body shook as if in a seizure, the blood forcing it's way throughout her body pushing against its sides from the inside; the sickening sound of bones cracking and ribs popping filled the air, until Aleena's body lay motionless on the floor.
Close the bottle now, quickly!
Althaea obeys, closing the bottle and holding it tightly shut. The bottle moves a bit in her hands, but it doesn't take long, maybe thirty seconds or so, and the hum of energy finally dies down. The purplish light fades. The bottle stops moving. The room, eerily quiet...
You...you can open your eyes now.