The Alliance

After their first adventure, the certainty of these companions' futures is set in anything but stone

Phoenix played idly with one of the shining twin daggers that she had received from the chest. Dovahkiin was delivering the golden orb to their contractor, leaving her with Bamf and Damian. The thief Alair had soon disappeared after snatching a pouch filled with coins from the chest. Darius and Tabul had once more offered them rooms free of charge if they felt as though they wanted to remain in town for a while longer. Phoenix’s heart swelled at the offer as she had not experienced this level in kindness for quite some time.

        “It’s good luck to name your weapons.” Tabul said, nodding at the dagger she held while the other lay on the bar in front of her. She blinked at the comment, still slightly dazed from the blow to the head she took earlier that day although the wound had been healed, and looked down at the gleaming daggers in deep contemplation. Names had a certain power, so she was not going to be quick to give them just any names. Something that was a symbol to her.

        “Regnaturi and Cadere.” She finally decided, twisting the silver blade in her hand and smiling slightly as the light glinted off of it. Bamf and Damian made their way over to join her at the bar, ordering a drink each. Phoenix’s features instantly turned cold at the sight of the twins, as one of them seemed to have an affinity for saying all of the wrong things, but Damian gave a laugh and held up his hands.

        “Stand down, Phoenix. I’m not here to seduce you with my good looks.” He said, a wide grin plastered on his face. He brushed a stray black hair off of his forehead as he took a drink of his micro-brew before speaking again. “I’m here with a proposition.” Taking her silence as an invitation to continue, he leaned forward with an excited expression. “Let’s form a team.”

        “A team?” Phoenix repeated wearily, raising an eyebrow at the offer.

        “Yeah! We’ll be adventurers just like Darius and Tabul here were! There are plenty of small jobs people need done so that we can start off at the bottom and then-”

        “You saw how our first job went.” Phoenix interjected dryly, but Damian waved her comment off.

        “That was a fluke, there weren’t supposed to be orcs there. Darius told me it was just supposed to be giant spiders and a few goblins.” Damian replied energetically. “Look, I know we don’t know one another very well, but I think that use, Dovahkiin and the thief could-”

        “The thief is gone.” She said, but he ignored her.

        “-really make a name for ourselves! Just think about it!” He said, his aqua eyes sparkling at the very thought of it. Phoenix looked down at the dagger she had acquired and pursed her lips. Performing, although it was her passion, often didn’t pay for all of the things she needed. She couldn’t even count the days that she simply went without eating due to some cheap client who wouldn’t pay up. And Darius and Tabul surely didn’t seem like the type of people who would suddenly take advantage of their trusting nature. This seemed like a safe place, a some sort of haven. Her fingers brushed against her thin hips and hollow stomach. Perhaps...she could stay for just a few weeks before she moved on again.

“Alright. I’ll stay. For only a few weeks, at most.” Phoenix finally agreed, looking back up at the excited man. Damian grinned and motioned for Tabul to bring them drinks, which Phoenix waved off. She found that alcohol only made the mind muddled and confused, a state that she could never afford to be in. She found her delicately curved nose wrinkling at the pungent scent of alcohol as Dovahkiin stomped over, his last drink dripping from his thick lips.

“My friends! Has Lord Damian convinced you to stay and adventure with us?” Dovahkiin questioned, his alcohol-stained breath filling the air. Half-drunk, the dragonborn seemed far friendlier and more sociable. Phoenix felt her lips twitch upward involuntarily at his excited nature and nodded. He gave a loud ‘whoop’ before throwing an arm around her shoulders. She began to earnestly grin as she grabbed onto the bar with his full weight beginning to press on her shoulders. “I knew that you would-” He gave a quick hiccup, “say yes! We made a great team! Perhaps the monk and cleric will join us when they return!”

“Perhaps they will.” Phoenix laughed, pushing his arm off of her. Behind Damian, Bamf gave a low chuckle as he nursed his fourth drink that night. Spirits beginning to rise, she looked around at her new companions. Adventuring...she had never seen herself doing it, as she felt she was only a simple performer who dabbled with magic on occasion, but perhaps she could create some sort of living out of it. No worries or thoughts of dangers entered her mind as the four of them began to speak of the adventures they would surely embark on, treasures they would find, and the heroes that they wanted to become.

-----

“This was a terrible idea.” Phoenix lamented, laying in the grass outside of the hole that they had crawled out of only seconds before. Dovahkiin, who sat on the grass beside her, also breathing heavily, nodded in agreement. The cleric, Thanatos, was tending to a bite mark that had ripped through his robes, a deep frown set on his lips. His dark skin glistened with sweat under the warm autumn sun. Damian, still standing alongside his brother, looked down at the two of them with an exasperated expression.

“It was only a few dozen spiders!” He argued, looking slightly ridiculous as he waved his arms seeing as cobwebs from the cavern under them were stuck to his steely-grey tunic. Phoenix shuttered as she sat up and began to pull cobwebs from her own hair, their tendrils sticking to her hands.

It had only been around three weeks since they agreed to adventure together, and the only jobs that they could find for adventurers of their level were jobs that nobody else wanted. These jobs included, but were not limited to, cleaning out caverns of spiders, retrieving someone’s lost pet, escorting a paranoid noble to the market, and defending a farm against goblins that were more pesky than dangerous. While they had been getting paid for these jobs, it certainly wasn’t what any of them was expecting adventuring to be.

“Let’s just go back to the bar.” Phoenix said with a sigh, giving up on detangling her long curls from the cobwebs. As none of them had yet to learn portal magic, despite having access to Darius’s extensive library, they were stuck walking back to their temporary home. Darius and Tabul had been kind enough to not charge them for their rooms, having them only pay for their meals and the barrels of alcohol that Dovahkiin and Bamf seemed to consume every night.

Phoenix had yet to get used to their continued kindness, although she very much appreciated it. When she questioned why the two of them were being so accommodating, Darius only told her that he wished that someone had been there to help them when the two of them began adventuring with their group of allies. She was content with the answer, but still found herself being surprised as they continued to offer them advice, training, and even new weapons. Her now lightly-tanned hands brushed against the whips that were looped around the belt she had slung around her waist. At the moment they were slicked with gooey spider blood, but she had to admit that she felt much more in her element fighting with them as opposed to her daggers.

Damian noticed her fiddling with the end of her new weapons, a scowl coming over his lips. Darius had enchanted his arrows so that he could direct the majority of his spells through them when he fired them, but the blacksmith had spent painstaking hours over Phoenix’s silver whips and Dovahkiin’s new twin war hammers that matched Darius’s. He couldn’t help the simmering words that rested on his tongue every time he saw the gleaming weapons. His face twisted into an uncharming expression for a brief moment before smoothing out once more. Phoenix noticed his change of demeanor and found herself instinctively shifting away from him as they continued on their way back.

Her fingers fell away from her whips and instead rested on the tight leather pants she had bought a week ago with her new earnings. Although she knew she should simply be saving as much as possible before she moved on to a new town, she couldn’t help but splurge on a few new outfits. She justified this fact due to her body was beginning to return to a normal size, and that her self-mended outfits were no longer suitable for wearing. As she once more was able to fill out her tops and dresses, she found herself tearing out more and more stitches that she had been forced sew into her clothing so that they would be wearable on her once starved body.

Not only was her body returning to normal, due to having at least three meals per day,  she found that her mood was far better than it had been for a long time. She found her stomach hurting from laughing at some crude, yet funny joke Dovahkiin had made on almost a nightly basis. She listened with sympathy as Thanatos described the relic left to him by his dead father, the pain still fresh in his heart. Even Bamf became more talkative, drinking heavily alongside Dovahkiin. It was surprising how much the man could drink, as he was keeping up with a dragonborn. The past few weeks, despite the unpleasant tasks they continued to complete, had been refreshing. It had been far too long since Phoenix had created any sort of emotional connection with other living beings.

“Welcome back.” Tabul greeted from behind the bar as their group entered the bar. Bamf and Dovahkiin made their way straight over to the bar, eager to quench their thirsts with one of Tabul’s microbrews. Damian on the other hand, a deep frown still set on his lips, chose to sit by himself at a table near the stage where a bard was in the midst of telling a tale. Phoenix found herself rolling her eyes at his behavior and debated whether it was worth going over to talk with him. Before she could decide, another man around their age strolled over to where Damian sat. The two seemed to share a few brief words, whatever being said causing Damian to grin. A bemused expression came across Phoenix’s face as she observed their interaction. What could this stranger possibly be saying to cheer up the moody sorceror. She walked over, attempting to be casual as she began to hear pieces of their conversation.

“-than a long game of cards.” The stranger was finishing saying, a grin on his lips. As he shifted his arms so that they rested on the table, Phoenix found herself staring at his arms. Tattooes of playing cards winded up and down his arms, boldly standing out against his creamy skin. Stormy grey eyes looked up at her from under shaggy red hair, regarding her with a friendly grin on his face, “Would you care to join us, darling?”

Phoenix blinked blankly at the statement as Damian turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. She supposed she shouldn’t have really come to pry into what he was doing, as it wasn’t her business, but she honestly didn’t care. “Er, I guess I could join. I haven’t played cards in some time,” she took a seat across from Damian with a shrug, “but perhaps I won’t be as bad as I expect to be.”

“That’s the spirit!” The man replied cheerfully, reaching into his bag and withdrawing a thick stack of playing cards. Leaning back in his chair, he began to shuffle the cards, “My name is Decs, in case you were wondering.” He began to deal out cards, two to each person. One card was face up, while the other faced down. Phoenix instantly recognized the game as Blackjack.

“Damian.”

“I’m Phoenix.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Damian and Phoenix.” Decs said, looking at his bottom card for a moment with a smile. Phoenix didn’t reply, choosing instead to give the man a long look before she looked down at her own cards. A four and an ace. Whatever cards Damian had caused him to grin “Before we continue, there is something I need to do.”

Alarmed, Phoenix and Damian both looked up at Decs. Phoenix’s hands began to inch to her whips, eyes not leaving Decs’ as he continued to look down at the cards in front of him. Her eyes moved to look at Damian’s, a moment of understanding passing between them, before they looked at Decs once more. “What exactly do you need to do?”

Finally looking up from his cards with a sly expression, his almond-shaped eyes looking at something behind the two of them. Tilting his head slightly, he looking back at the two of them as the tattooes on his arms began to glow.

He moved so quickly that his movements were a blur. One moment he was sitting, the next he was standing and throwing glowing blue cards toward the two adventurers. The cards of energy flew past the two of them, not so much as clipping their ears, and embedded themselves in someone behind them. They stood and whipped around to watch the two men dressed in black fall to the floor.

“So would you like another card, darling?”