Lexaja
Slums, nightHer footsteps seemed to echo loudly from the walls, each time creating a few little blinking sparks around her feet. Slowly, ever so slowly, the high started to change from the dizziness created by the fumes to... something similar and not quite similar to the real product. Lexaja chuckled and tried to grab one of the sparks she knew fully well were not real - but she was accustomed to things not being real.
Her feet let her in the direction of the waves. Crushing, washing over each other. After a while of wandering the streets like a chuckling child and thankfully not meeting anyone something passed her vision. She blinked. And prayed for it to be just born out of the drug. For a moment she stood there and contemplated. Should she really turn around, back to that alley? At the thought alone her heart raced, pounded, louder and louder, filling her ears, louder, pounding against her chest, louder again, so loud...
She spun around and slammed her hand flat against the next wall. The pounding stopped. The impeding panic stopped. A sharp pain wandered through the flat of her hand, up her arm into her brain. Which mixed it with some loud ringing. She drew a breath and leaned against the wall for a moment.
She pulled herself up again. Her mind was... well not cleared. She was still more out of it than she would care to admit. But the fear had been fought down. And she was open for other stimulants again.
Where are you..? I am sorry.Lexaja closed her eyes. She was not in the right mindset for this, coldness rolled over her, dampness. Then pain. She grabbed her head. Pain... A pain she had never felt before, never wanted to feel again. Her head felt like it was being split open. She gagged. Her leg felt oddly warm at parts. A crushing sound rang in her ears, coldness and heat washing over her again and again.
With the last bit of clearness in her mind and force in herself she jerked up "They are not here. Go home. They will be waiting. Everything will turn out... fine." The words were pressed. She had no idea if they were true. She did not even care. But she felt the presence lifting. Her mind took back in the normal stench of the slums. Her head stopped pounding.
She did not take her chances to look inside the alley. What for? She was no undertaker and had no interest in seeing the bloody body of someone who had been killed. And she was fairly certain that nothing else would be there.
Instead she marched a little faster than before, right out to the sounds of the wave. Her head up to the stars which seemed to move and turn. This time she reached her destination - maybe because she was not completely consumed in playing with her own mind's creation. She turned and marched down as near to the shoreline as she could. The sound of the waves trickled over her, creating images of playing sea creatures in her peripheral view, snatching at the still moving stars.
After a while she reached the port. For a moment she paced up and down, muttering sweet words to the dancing colours of the sea, before she found a safe way down to the water. She collected some in a waterskin, put it to her belt and collected a bit of the sea weed growing here. The sensation of water against her fingers made her giggle slightly. The last batch was rather potent, or her ventilation had been better before.
Standing up Lexaja contemplated what else to do. And contemplating in this sense meant she was starring ahead at the sea and moving her hands slightly to again touch creatures that were not there. After another moment, or minutes, or maybe an hour she stepped up again and walked. She just had decided to take a look at the city and wandered aimlessly. Her mind did not once jump to the possibility that this might not be a good idea.
"Stop. What are you doing?" The voice was loud and demanding. Shaking her head - and then having to sort out her brown hair again - Lexaja turned to it. Now in front, originally to her side, were a few guards
"Taking a look around?" Had her mind been clearer she most likely would have known that this was not the right answer. If guards got antsy they were looking for thieves. Thieves took a look around at night. But, well.
"At that time of the night? Surely not!" The voice bellowed again and she could just help herself from asking why his voice sounded so ugly.
Apparently her little training in self-control had made her miss something the ill-tempered guard had said. At least she had no other pointer to why the two other guards had rushed to her side and turned her arms on her back. The last one took a step closer
"Spaced out, huh? Where'd you get it?" She blinked, shook her head
"Search her." A little shock went through her. She had not taken all her belongings with her as her bag had stayed behind, but she always had the sleeping powder on her. She was slowly stripped first of her dagger, than one by one of the things on her belt.
The small bag of seaweeds were first and ignored. Her waterskin was emptied, she sighed, than gasped as a flash of sound, colours and feelings washed over her, shortly but still making her feel drowning for a moment just from the water splashing against her. When she came back to her senses they had found the small bag and opened it, the guard holding her slowly lifting it up to his face with his free hand
"I wouldn't.." "Shut up!" She flinched as she was shouted at and could not really help it.
He took a really deep breath and blinked. It took a short while until his grip loosened and she took the opportunity to snatch the bag and close it before the man sat down mumbling, yawned and fell to sleep.
The view of the two other guards was burning, it felt as if it was to impale her. Without even thinking about running away she lifted her hands up, still holding the bag
"I tried to warn you..?" The voice was that of a child trying to calm down a fuming parent and it did not work. A moment later she found herself on the floor, being pressed down by one guard while the other inspected his fellow. She tried to speak, but she could not get enough air into her lungs against the pressing weight. Air... she felt another wave of now rather uncontrolled emotions rush over her, shutting out the world.
Royal Complex/Stronghold Keep - Dawn Lexaja slowly came to her senses to someone shouting. Or talking loudly? She tried to recap where she was, and why and vaguely remembered the guards. As she had no memory how she got her she concluded she must had passed out.
Opening her eyes revealed a stone wall. Not too unexpected. She took in a deeper breath than what was good for her, the stench of mould and urine throwing herself of. She turned to one side and gagged, but there was nothing more. She had not eaten in... many hours apparently. She just spit out the sour and bitter taste and rolled back. Her body was shaking. It drew out small noises from the shackle at her foot and it made it nearly impossible for her to move. Getting down from these fumes was hell. She felt ill, dizzy and the tremble was the worst. At home she would have known a remedy, here she tried not to vomit again.
She took another look around. Iron bars... a shackle?
"Hell where did they bring me?" It was the first time she sensed a little bit of nervousness coming up. Walls like these were usually not in simple prison cells.