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Aulus Granus, 9th Baron Eskandar

Lord of Castle Cramz


Aulus is on a ship heading to Nyhem
There are two ghosts with him o.o
He has a flashback to his escape - it was a dark, storymy night, and no one was wandering about
He was having a bad time all round, when thunder struck and he saw the ghosts
He got scared and ran off, but slipped and fell - and didn't wake up till morn
He was bloody but unbowed, and continued his journey
He stayed in a forest for a while till he got bored
Then he stowed away on a ship to Nyhem
He got off at Nyhem and joined the jolly tramps of the dockyard


Coruneon and Nyhem, 503 A.R

'Drink, m'Lord?' the soldier asked. Aulus looked up and nodded.
'Yes please, bloody good stuff,' he said as he raised his cup. The soldier smiled and a small chuckle left his mouth.

'That it is!' he said as he raised a dagger to his throat and ripped it open. Crimson liquid spurted out into the cup and sprayed Aulus' face. The young man smiled, bringing the drink to his lips and savouring the rustic liquid.

'Seconds, m'Lord,' the second soldier stepped out from behind the first, his haunting dead eyes boring into Aulus and a frozen hollow smile on his lips. Aulus shivered and shook his head.

'N-no, no more. Please.' He muttered. His eyes opened slowly and he looked around in the darkness. The ship was rocking gently from side to side and he was shivering and wet. A cold sweat ran down his back and he brought the cloak tighter around his neck. They kept coming back - he saw them in his sleep, those gashed necks, and he sometimes thought he saw them even when he was awake.

'Oh no no, ye're just imaginin' things, that's all,' Aulus turned his head swiftly at the white glow at his sight's periphery. But there was nothing there other than the gently rocking lamp. He gulped and pulled himself against the wooden wall of the ship's hull.

His escape from Castle Calchester had been rather simple - he followed the secret route to a hidden trapdoor in the rocky outcrops that surrounded the formidable fortress. It was dark and rain was ravaging the landscape - which was just as well, it would make his escape doubly easy. It would, however, mean that any sense of direction was hopelessly lost. Not that he knew in which direction to go anyway. After working out where the castle was, he turned his back to it and began walking. His cloak was drenched in mere minutes, and his booted feet sank sometimes into mud and slipped sometimes on wet rock. Despite his hood, the water rain down his face and dripped off the end of his nose. From time to time he wiped rain from his forehead to prevent the irritating flow from overwhelming his eyes. The heat of his body and the cold of his wet clothing came together to create an altogether uncomfortable and soggy feel everywhere - but perhaps his somewhat drunk and dazed state helped him ignore that to an extent.

'Well, this is bloody shit,' he muttered as he continued walking aimlessly, 'had to be an idiot about it - I coulda just gone with Hemala and the others; but no! Had to be stubborn, had to swing my-' at this point lightning lit up the skies and thunder sounded, and so his quiet mutterings were silenced by nature's deafening roar. 'Roar roar roar, that's all you can do, isn't it. Stupid rain, stupid thunder - think I'm afraid of you? I am not afra-!' Once more, the heavens were alight and their fury became manifest. Aulus stood awestruck, and in that moment he thought he had seen, as heaven's light lit up the world, two white figures just before him. He gulped and took a step back, his eyes darting in the darkness. He reached with a numb hand for his sword.

'Won't be needing that-'

'Not of much use...'

'No, not of much use at all, is it?'

Moaning in fear, Aulus sprang forward with a start and began running. Any other man would have slipped and fell, stumbled and staggered, but Aulus' balance - even when half drunk - was quite spectacular. Even as he stepped on a slippery rock, he unconsciously shifted so as to ensure he remained upright and continued onward at speed.

'Where are you going in such a rush?'

'You know, they're never gonna catch you.'

'Yeah, it's dark, it's wet - they're all probly indoors now,'

'Enjoyin' a fire,'

'Some probly enjoyin' some fine human flesh,'

'Some probly enjoyin' a bit o' An-'

Aulus roared in fear and fury, 'be quiet dammit! Damn you!' and he quickened his pace until he was running. And in his fear and anger, his focus left him and he slipped. And he saw red. Then he saw black. Then he did not see at all.

He had woken up wet and in pain. But the sun was out and after wiping some dried blood from his face he found that he had not been too seriously hurt by last night's slip. But he was hungry and had a raging headache from all the drinking. By all things holy, he could not even remember the last time he was this sober. Grunting something unintelligible, he sat up and squinted due to the brightness of the late morning sun. His stomach rumbled in greeting.

'G'morning t'you too,' he managed before getting to his feet and stumbling forward a few steps before falling into a regular trudge. If memory served, there was a small town not too far from Calchester which he could potentially stop at. But the more intelligent thing to do would be to avoid people in general and hunt for food instead. He was sober (and intelligent) enough to go with the latter. Eventually, after perhaps a week or so of travel, rocky terrain gave way to forest, and prey was so available here that he seriously considered simply residing in the forest. It was well-hidden, food was abundant, he could easily shelter himself against the weathers, and water was certain to be available where trees grew. And for a good few days, he did stay there. He stank like a cesspit and most likely looked like he'd just crawled out of one - and at points, he felt like he in fact had - but he was for the most part happy to just focus on the mundane little things. And the two voices (and the white on the periphery of his vision) provided surprising (if not entirely welcome or understood) comfort and companionship. The goodness of nature even rid him of his pressing need for a drink after some time.

But by all things holy, it was dull.

I mean, sure, there were some interesting things. You could sit and watch a tree if you were so inclined. Or perhaps, if you required more stimulation, a piglet running after its mother might provide some entertainment (until you skewered both with an arrow, because dammit you're hungry). If you are of the more daring variety, you might take it up a level and try to climb a tree or build a little hovel beneath one. If you are crazy, you might go poke a sleeping bear. (Aulus did not quite want to die, so he resisted the temptation). But after a while, it all just got rather repetitive and tedious. A man like Aulus needed the town, the city. He had never lain with a woman (that damn Ani never let him take it that far) but gods only knew any health lad appreciated looking at a fine piece of meat!- they had made men that way, after all, had they not? And it was only right - and a display of piety and gratefulness - to utilise what the gods had given all healthy men. Or something like that anyway.

And what was more, the serenity of the forest gave him too much time to think. He thought about Daeron and how worried he would be when news reached him of Calchester's fall, how disappointed he would be when Hemala was reunited with him and told him of Aulus' decision to remain behind. He was the sword Daeron had hammered into shape so that he could one day stand beside him - and he had betrayed his intended purpose.

'Gah!' He would mutter when the heavy thoughts got too much, and he would kick or hack at a tree to get his mind off it all. And so, in pursuit of adventure and distraction from his thoughts - and those two voices were beginning to drive him a bit crazy anyway - he left the forest and contninued his aimless journey. He soon discovered that he was very close to the coast - and where there was coast, one invariably found a port.

'You wanna go to a big city?' A sailor he stopped asked in confusion.
'Yeah, the biggest city there is - lots of drink, lots of women, lots of fun. That kind of place.'
'Uh...well, I dunno about all that. But if yer lookin' for big an' important cities, ye can't go wrong with Nyhem.'

When he asked around, it became apparent that the asking prices to take him to Nyhem were beyond him - that is, he had no money at all. When he offered to work by way of payment, the captains he asked scoffed at the idea of taking on a boy who was more likely to be a liability than any help. That left him with no option other than to stowaway. 

The first few times he was quickly discovered and kicked quite firmly off. This was his fifth attempt, and this time he had actually managed to stay aboard without discovery until the ship had set off. He only hoped they would not find him during the journey - he been told terrible things about what happens to those they discover.

'First they gut ya,'
'Then they flay ya,'
'Then they scalp ya,'
'Then they tie ya,'
'Then they whip ya,'
'Then they feed ya...'
'To the sharks!'

As it were, he was not discovered. When the ship came into port at Nyhem, he waited some hours until all was quiet before sneaking off. He was dirty, he stank, his stubble had become a scraggly beard. Overall, he fit in rather well with the dockyard tramps he made himself at home with.

'Y'know, that's a pretty blade ya got on ya. Could sell 'at for a pretty penny. That bow too...' one of them said to him after he had been sat next to him for an hour or so. Aulus looked at him, all too familiar with the greedy look in the man's eyes.

'Look 'ere mate. I'm a trained solja me. You come anywhere near me sword with 'ose scrubby hands o' yours and ye'll be leavin' with no hands. Ya get me?' The tramp gave Aulus a sheepish look and nodded.

'Ah get ya, ah get ya. Jus' sayin, thas all...' and the tramp got up grumpily and went to sit with friendlier - and less dangerous - company. For his part, Aulus was perfectly comfortable remaining where he was through the afternoon, and when night fell he wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself and, gripping his dagger beneath the cloak just in case he got a surprise awakening, allowed himself to sleep. The morning would bring with it much that was new, and he was not all that sure whether he would be ready for it at all. In fact, he was very suddenly aware that he had no idea what he was doing here and why he had come.

'Bloody hell, this is all pretty shit, all things considered,' he muttered sullenly to himself.
'It is,'
'It really, really is,'
'It has to be, you see,'
'If even the dead think so.'

He made to look at his constant companions, but their white light disappeared - as it always did - when he turned towards it. These two were depressing company, that was for sure.
'We're dead, what d'you expect?'
'And it's not like you had no hand in causing it, y'know,'
'You had a rather sharp point in causing it, to be exact.'

Aulus rolled his eyes, sighed, and finally closed them. The sounds of the waves did a good job of keeping the two out his dreams. For the most part.
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