Hissing at the thought of other soldiers being trusted to watch her back, Kehah shook her head at Geoffrey; she hadn't thought of the fact that they'd be placed in large quarters, and quickly adjusted her plans for sleeping; it would all depend on the type of room they were put in. Geoffrey had walked away, leaving Kehah to her thoughts for a second before the Lady Grimm bid her goodnight and began to leave. She felt her heart seize as the Green Knight leaned over and said her piece, and she quickly stood up after they left, hurrying after a servant to the Confederacy quarters.
They were obviously meant as servant quarters, and Kehah smiled as she looked up to see rafters; it seemed her plan would work after all. With this in mind, and a determined glare, she swiped a sheet from one of the cots, ignoring the angered swear sent at her from the soldier she'd taken the sheet from. She wrapped the sheet around her chest and took a running leap at a cot nearest the wall, spring-boarding off of it, using the momentum to kick up and off the wall and reach out to grip one of the rafters. It was a close call, her fingers having just found purchase before the risk of downward descent, but she quickly pulled the rest of her body up and over until she was straddling the rafter and looking down at the shocked faces of the Confederacy soldiers.
“What the hell’r’ya doin’?!” one of them cried up at her. She smirked down at him as she began to tie the corners around the rafters, making sure they were secure before vaulting off and landing on the ground with a roll to her feet. Ignoring them still, she looked up at her makeshift hammock with a smirk before walking out of the quarters, leaving a stunned and angry group behind.
She walked towards one of the smaller quarters meant for the higher-ups and leaned against the wall next to the door, listening as Geoffrey was berated. As the man himself was sent out of the room, Kehah fell into place next to him, giving him a side eye.
“I don't trust the others, and I need to set up traps anyway,” she said by way of explanation, fiddling with the pieces and parts that she'd use to set up said traps.
Despite how well off he had gotten with his punishment, there was still a thin veil of embarrassment spread across Geoffrey’s face as he left, though he understood how useful this task would be - it was especially tactful for someone of his stature to explore a bit, in order to better understand what they would be working with. He took a bit of surprise to Kehah being just outside of the doorframe, but smiled a bit as they continued down the hallway.
“Ah, I can understand that,” he said softly, before signalling to his right for them to turn down the hall. The winding corridors throughout the castle were perplexing, and all followed a similar gothic pattern of intricately detailed paintings of foreign beasts hanging along the walls. The lighting was rather dim throughout the interior, and the thin halls all had a rather high ceiling that was just barely visible in the darkness.
“I had planned on coming to find you, in all honesty - I wouldn’t trust these walls in my loneliness despite what Lord Grimm says, especially after how things did explode a bit tonight,” the thought brought a smirk back to Geoffrey’s face before he looked over to his companion. “What kind of secrets lurk these halls, do you wonder?”
“Dark ones,” Kehah growled without a second thought, stopping at the joining of two halls to set up a small rope trap that would snare anyone trying to sneak against the walls. “I don't like this place, Lieutenant, it feels... Twisted, like the Dark Elves,” she shivered at her last memory of the Green One, glancing over her shoulder as though it would appear. “But there's an underlying power that I'm unfamiliar with.” Her eyes turned cold as she finished the trap and turned to him, nodding towards another hall before walking down it at his side.
“Unfortunately so, it seems,” Geoffrey let out with a sigh, a bit of unease washing over him. “I fear not those who live in these halls, but what they come from - everything here has been touched with a kind of magic, but not of any that is pure. Perhaps most of all, our main host,” he glanced to Kehah in wonder, making note of her discomfort.
“Forgive me for prying, but you seemed awfully keen on being away from those elves earlier, and you certainly didn’t look too excited to be beside them at dinner tonight. What is it that troubles you so much about them?”
Kehah scoffed and pulled a knife out, fiddling with it before taking another turn down the next hall, taking note of paintings and adding everything to her mental map so she knew how to get back. “You are from a west-most village, same as I. Both of us played in the tree-lines and heard the warnings against the Corrupted Ones,” She shrugged, unease settling even deeper. “Would you too not be unsettled by their presence?”
“Though I heed the caution of my elders, I can’t help but be intrigued,” Geoffrey noted. “How much has their legend altered throughout time? How much of what is told in the children’s tales holds true?” Through a knowing smile, Geoffrey cocked his head toward the blade-wielding woman, trying to lessen the tension as they wandered deeper into the dark of the castle.
She couldn’t bring herself to do anything but glare at that moment. “And if it is true, then none of us will be the victor as they’ll rip our lives from our bodies regardless,” She huffed, “You and I covet the Elves, yet you find intrigue in their Corrupted counterparts?”
“Aye, ‘tis true that our kind envies the magics at play deep in the trees, and I will always hold respect for it,” Geoffrey continued. “But some things I want to find out for my own - how many men in all the land can say that they’ve made witness to a Dark Elf in this day and age, and have the mark to prove it?”
“None, for they’d all surely be dead.” Was the snapped response before Kehah went quiet, staring down the new path they’d come to. The corridor they had traveled down came to a stop, the only path left to travel being on their right. This hall appeared darker than the others, and even felt a bit colder. The stones that lined the walls were especially old and weathered, and a few cobwebs hung low from the rafters above. The hallway was just as wide as a full-grown man laid flat on his back, leaving little room between Kehah, Geoffrey, and the walls. The smell of must hung thick in the air, and there was no clear view of what would be at the end of their path.
“Ah, how romantic a setting,” Geoffrey smirked in jest, causing Kehah to bark out a laugh before their expressions quickly turned foul at the odor that strung at their nostrils. Geoffrey felt the hair along his arms stand up as a chill wind pushed toward them, a shrill whistling filling the corridor.
Finally, after a few more moments of walking, the two were suddenly covered in the pale light of the moon high above them. Before them was a long stone balcony, pushed out from the face of the castle, rather plain in its architecture and designs. Seemingly carved from the rock of the mountains around them, each placing of their feet resonated and echoed back down the hallway from which they had came. Along the edge of the outlet stood a small wooden fence, rather aged and weathered from countless years of use.
Kehah felt herself shivering, not at the temperature or conditions of the hall and balcony, but at the mere aura now surrounding the place. While Geoffrey’s comment had given her a second’s reprieve from the seriousness of their current mission, it all swept back to her as she stared at the moon; steel reflected steel as she leaned against the steady balcony, eyes shifting to Geoffrey.
“Should you win,” She began, hoping he didn’t hear the use of ‘you’ instead of ‘we’; she took the Dark Elf’s promise to heart, and if she’s caught the attention of the Green One so, she doubted she’d be leaving here alive - even if the Confederacy came out victorious. “How many of your soldiers do you see dying? What do you see of the time after that? Surely you aren’t the type to negotiate trades with the Grimm, so what will you do?”
“The men here knew fully well the risk they were getting into,” Geoffrey began, his playful voice suddenly turning sour. “Of course, I don’t want any of them to die, but it will be inevitable that we’ll be leaving this place feeling rather beaten, despite our successes - well, if we succeed, as you said.”
Approaching the edge of the balcony, Geoffrey looked out across the expanse of the mountain range and down to the valley, the glint of an edge of the great mirror from earlier just barely visible from where they stood. “As for myself…” he trailed off, frowning at the thought of what was to come next - war, no doubt, and it would be no surprise if he was sent to the front lines himself. For another moment, he stood there pondering, his brow easing from being furrowed, his pale eyes brightening to the same icy blue as the moon.
“Fighting, planning, strategics - all the wonderful things that go along with being lieutenant!” Geoffrey boasted in humor, raising his hands for dramatic effect. It was more a show for him than anything, despite the risks involved.
“And what of any family you left behind?” Kehah asked, taking her eyes off of him. She knew she was reaching; getting too familiar too fast. She might let something slip if she kept this up, but she was still rattled by the threat from earlier, and she wanted to get as much information from Geoffrey as she could before she wrote to Maar’von. Kehah shivered again, and found herself frowning. Whatever magicks were held in this castle, they were certainly messing with her. That could be far more deadly than any Dark Elf if she found herself caught off guard in the coming battles.
(end part 1)
