Chapter Text
Blake fidgeted with her pen. It was a nice ballpoint pen she had grown rather fond of. Ilia had given her a few judgmental looks for not using a fountain pen like everyone else at Vale Monthly, but she didn't care. She could deal with Ilia's snobbery.
What she could not deal with was the train delays. Her excitement towards going to Southeast Sanus had faded to boredom long ago, and she had grown tired of the view of Vale Central. Sitting on a stationary train for three hours was deeply unpleasant. The conductor had apologized profusely, of course, but it did little to alleviate the boredom.
She rooted through her bag. Inside was her camera case, several changes of clothes, and files with information about her current assignment. She groaned. She had forgotten Ninjas of Love at home.
As she was zipping up her bag, she noticed a small flash of reflected light. a switchblade was tucked into the side pocket of her camera case. A small rose shaped crest was emblazoned on the handle. She was at the Rose-Polendina house the other day, and had brought her camera. Ruby must have accidentally placed her switchblade there. Blake would have to give it back once she got home. Regardless, it was a new thing to fidget with. She was grateful for Ruby's mistake.
Feeling antsy, she stood up, feeling her legs crack. She left her small sleeping cabin and made her way to the lounge. There were several other passengers, all dressed to the nines, talking loudly at the bar. They were clearly already drunk. Feeling out of place in her much more casual clothes, Blake ignored them. She sat down on one of the couches, switchblade in hand, feeling the satisfying motion of repeatedly extending and retracting it.
Shortly after she sat down, a man walked through the door. He was dressed in black trousers and jacket, the latter having a red and white pattern running down the side. Nice, but not ostentatious. The color of his hair matched the pattern on his jacket. A pair of black horns ran down through his hair, but his most striking feature was his eye. Several scars, likely from some kind of animal, ran across it. The pupil was stained a dull white color. It stared straight ahead, independent of where his good eye was looking.
He sat across from Blake and smiled. Despite his fearsome appearance, the smile was kind and genuine. Blake found herself returning it. He looked down at the knife in Blake's hand. "Oh, a lady of danger I see." he said.
Blake realized she was blushing a little. "No, not really. I'm just a journalist."
"Well, just a journalist, I'm Taurus, Adam Taurus."
Blake rolled her eyes at the joke. "Blake Belladonna."
"Charmed." He extended his hand.
Blake took his hand and shook it. He held her hand just a little too hard and a little too long.
At that moment, the train's horn blared, and it began to move. The drunks cheered. One fell off his stool. Adam looked over at the window. "Took them long enough."
"I'll say." said Blake, looking over her shoulder.
"So where are you off to, Miss Belladona?" asked Adam.
Blake looked back at him. "Yuktobania. I'm to do an article on the coronation of the crown prince."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "What a coincidence, I'm off to Yuktobania as well. I've been hired as a lawyer for Countess Fall."
Blake looked to the ceiling in thought. She could have sworn she had heard of Countess Fall before, but she just couldn't place her finger on it. "She lives in Yuktobania?"
"In the Vladimir mountains."
"I could be passing through there on the way to the capitol actually."
Adam smiled. "Then it appears I have a travel companion."
Blake smiled back, rather sheepishly. "It appears you do."
Adam ordered gin and tonic for Blake and himself, and the two talked late into the night.
Four days had passed, and the train had pulled into the Belkan town of Dinsmark, bordering Yuktobania. Part of Blake was sad for the ride to end, for she had come to enjoy Adam's company. She blushed a little as she packed her things into her bag. She was embarrassed to admit it, but she had developed a crush on him. Judging by the way he looked at her, the feeling was mutual.
It was a shame that they would have to part ways soon.
Blake stepped onto the platform. Dinsmark wasn't anywhere near the size of Vale. The houses were rather quaint, made of dark timber and white plaster. Even from the town, she could hear the herds of cattle bellowing in the distance from her upper ears. However, the town was not dominated by the houses or the cattle, but by the great Vladimir mountains to the east. They were dangerous and poorly mapped, no train lines crossed them. The safest way through was the Borgo pass, right next to Dinsmark.
She stared at the mountains in awe. Despite being early summer, great snowcaps sat on the peaks. Thankfully, the saddle of Borgo Pass was bare, threading the needle between the snowcaps. Right below was the forest, dark green from the pines.
She was brought back to the present by a hand being placed on the back of her neck. She looked over to see Adam, carrying his suitcase. He gestured at the mountains. "The Fall estate is just past the pass. Would you like to share a carriage?"
Blake smiled and nodded. "That sounds wonderful."
"It's gonna cost ya two thousand Lien." said the man with a short grey beard, a wagon and two horses, one black and one brown. "And yer gonna sit in the back with the cargo."
Blake knew only enough Belkan to get the general idea of what he was saying. Thankfully, Adam appeared to be fully fluent, translating for her. He rolled his working eye and sneered. "If you're going to charge that much, we will take our business elsewhere."
The wagon driver laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. "I'm the only one that's gonna take ya over the pass this time of year."
Adam glared at him. "Come on Blake, let's see who can actually bring us over."
The driver was not bluffing. All the other drivers either refused to bring them over outright, or said they would in a month or so. Dragging his feet, Adam finally conceded to the first driver.
The driver gave them a toothy, yellow grin. "Two thousand five hundred Lien." he said.
Blake rolled her eyes and walked off as Adam began haggling with the driver.
She went to the inn to order an early lunch. It was open and bright, filled with loud conversation and music. She ordered a dish consisting of chicken and paprika. She ate it slowly, enjoying the atmosphere.
Before she was finished, Adam walked in with a smile on his face. Blake looked up at him. "Any luck?" she asked.
"Yes, actually. I got him to bring down the price to five hundred Lien."
Blake raised her eyebrow. "And how did you do that?"
"Oh, I have my ways" he said. "We are to leave once he finishes loading his cargo."
Blake finished the rest of her chicken while Adam had his flask filled with liquor at the bar. She felt warm and full, if a bit thirsty. She downed the water in her flask before they left the inn
With a hand on the back of her neck, Adam guided Blake to the post office across the street. The wagon driver was outside, loading several large mail bags into his wagon. He was considerate enough to have left a small space for Blake and Adam in the back.
The man's smug cocky attitude was gone. Instead, he was polite and professional. Blake couldn't help but notice him steal a few too many glances at Adam, and looked almost relieved to see Blake was here.
She shrugged. Perhaps he was simply intimidated by Adam and his scar. She herself had started feeling a little of the same on seeing his toned, muscular body. She found herself blushing a little at the wetness in her loins. She rolled her eyes at herself. She was a fully grown woman, and now she was acting like a schoolgirl thinking about her first crush.
Adam hopped onto the wagon before extending a hand down to Blake. She accepted the help and sat down between a mail bag and a box of dried meats. Adam sat across from her, leaning on another mail bag. The driver climbed up onto his seat and flicked the reins. The horses set off, heading up towards the mountains.
An hour or two after leaving the town, they left the cow pastures and entered the forest. It was light and open, the trees spaced far apart and the ground was covered in low grasses and pine needles. It was the dry side of the mountain. Frequent wildfires ripped through the low brush, leaving only the mighty Ponderosas behind. Adam had started singing some old folk song to stave off the boredom. Blake watched him, admiring his voice. He gave her that smirk of his and she felt herself looking down and blushing.
Several more hours later, a chill wind ran across the mountain. Blake and Adam had both pulled their coats out of their bags, and were sitting close for warmth. The forest was long gone, having been replaced with alpine tundra. The only trees growing this high were short and snarled, their growth stunted by freezing winds and heavy snows.
The view was nothing short of spectacular. To the west was the great Belkan plains, stretching on toward infinity. If she looked closely, Blake could see Dinsmark and the railway running through it, looking like nothing more than an anthill. A train was leaving the station, steam billowing out of its stack.
Blake looked forward, towards the mountains of Yuktobania. In the valley ahead and below lay sea of thick fog. Distant peaks poked out, covered in snow. Through the holes in the fog lay a deep, black forest.
Going downhill, they made good time, and it wasn't long before they left the tundra and entered the black forest. The wildfires of the west slope didn't reach here, letting the trees grow thick and dense. The pines and firs encroached on either side, their branches reaching into the path, scraping the side of the wagon. Above, the canopy reached over, the only light coming from small patches of cloudy sky. It had recently rained, and water was still percolating down through the canopy. When the driver had to occasionally lift a branch up out of the way, a small rainshower hit Blake and Adam. Blake was thankful for the thick coat keeping her dry.
Despite being midafternoon, the forest was dark. The driver had to stop for a few minutes to light his hurricane lamp. Blake climbed out of the wagon, feeling her legs and spine crack after being immobile for so long.
Seconds after her boots landed on the mud below, the headrush hit. Her vision blurred and her head swam. Up and down lost meaning as she reached for the side of the wagon to stabilize herself, only to grasp empty air.
When her senses returned a few seconds later, she found herself not face down in the mud, but supported in Adam's arms. After she processed what had happened, she hoped the gloom would hide the blush covering her face. She stood up as Adam spoke. "It's the altitude. You went from near sea level to several kilometers up in the span of an afternoon. Your body will adjust in a day or so." He kept a grip on Blake's arm even after her weight was under her.
Blake nodded. "I see. I have to go relieve myself." she said. Adam let go, but gave her a grim look. The driver looked over his shoulder at Adam after hearing Blake. Silhouetted by the lantern, Blake couldn't read his face.
"Don't go far." said Adam.
For Blake, the forest wasn't nearly as dark. Her catlike eyes could pierce the shadows, painting the forest in not a pitch blackness, but a colorless gloom. She pushed aside two saplings to find a spot she could relieve herself in modesty. She walked into not quite a clearing, but at least a gap. She looked behind her, still able to see the orange lantern light through the trees. She looked back ahead, and noticed something.
The ground below her seemed to contain some sort of brickwork, thought cracked by roots and covered in mosses. She took another look at the gap she was in. On one edge was a line of bricks, covered in moss, all that remained of a wall.
She was interrupted by Adam yelling at her from the road. "Blake! What's taking so long?"
"Give me a minute!" she called back, quieter. Something in her gut told her not to speak too loud.
She relieved herself right outside the ruins before quickly returning to the road. As she came into view of the wagon, the driver looked deeply relieved to see her once again. She couldn't tell if it was out of fear for her or for himself. After Adam helped her back onto the cart, the driver asked him something in Belkan that she didn't understand. In response, he pulled out his pocketwatch and held it up near the lantern, showing him its face.
The driver nodded, flicked the reins and cracked his whip. The horses broke into a fast trot, their hooves making a slucking noise as they were pulled out of the mud. Blake checked her own wristwatch, doing the mental math to convert from Vale time to local time. Taking the mountains into account, they only had a few hours of daylight left, and the driver clearly wanted to be somewhere before night fell. Blake found herself once again fidgeting with Ruby's knife, the flat of the blade and the rose crest glistening in the flickering light.
Adam saw the blade in her hands and gave her a smile. He reached out, placing one hand on the back of her neck and the other on the hand holding her knife. "There's nothing to fear." he said. Despite speaking in Valic, he spoke so quietly that the driver wouldn't hear him over the sound of the cart and the horses.
Blake looked forward, not meeting his eyes. She slid the knife back into her pocket.
A wave of relief hit Blake as the trees began to thin out and light reached the ground once more. Several lights flickered through the trees. The driver sighed, just as relieved as she was. He slowed the horses back down to a walk as they approached the small town of Okchabursk. As they got closer, the lights resolved themselves into candlelight coming through windows. The town was very small, consisting of only eight or nine buildings. The driver parked behind the only building with two stories and stood up. He said a few words to Adam before gesturing to go inside.
"He said we are going to stay the night here." translated Adam as he pulled Blake's bag off the wagon. "We are to leave early tomorrow morning."
The tavern was lit by candlelight and filled with pipe smoke and low conversation. Seven or eight patrons sat at either a table or the bar. As the two entered, a few people looked their way but they didn't seem to really care. Adam guided her up to the bar and began talking to the barkeep in Yuktobanian. He had to duck to avoid a low beam in the ceiling. Blake didn't know a scrap of Yuktobanian, so she let the two of them converse as she looked at what some of the patrons were eating, seeing if any of it looked appetizing. Her gaze was drawn to a plate of trout being eaten by a young man with hair only a few shades lighter than her own. He smiled and winked. She gave him an awkward wave.
Adam placed his hand on her nape, pointing her head forward. He placed a room key in her palm. "Room two, right upstairs, I'll carry your bag." he said. Blake nodded.
The room was small and smelled of old wood. Blake walked in and lit a candle. There wasn't much, only a small bed and a desk. Light from the tavern below leaked up through the gaps between the floorboards. Adam followed, carrying her luggage. He set it on the bed.
"Do you need me to pay you for the room?" asked Blake.
Adam shook his head "The countess has given me quite a large sum of local money to pay for travel. An extra room isn't a problem."
Blake smiled and thanked him.
After Adam brought his luggage up to his room, they walked back down to the tavern for dinner. Night had fallen fast and early, and the outside was dark. Adam ordered a cut of meat for himself and the trout for Blake, and the two sat down at a table with an older couple, a bald man with a thick black beard and a tall woman with salt and pepper hair. Adam was chatting happily with the two in Yuktobanian, occasionally translating for Blake to hear. The couple was local and were telling Adam about some gossip involving their neighbours. Blake wasn't really paying any attention, too much was lost in translation.
The conversation apparently turned to what Blake and Adam were up to. She heard the name Fall come out of his mouth.
The couple went silent. They looked at Adam, fear in their eyes. They stood up, their plates in hand. The woman pulled out a pendant worn around her neck, gripping it so hard her knuckles turned white. They sat at a table far away, refusing to even glance their way.
Blake felt like a rock had fallen into her stomach. She wouldn't be going to the Fall estate, but Adam would. She grabbed his hand and looked into his good eye, pleading with him. "Adam. Please be careful."
He smiled and rolled his eye. "Blake, I'll be fine." He stood up, his back cracking as he did so. He let out a yawn. "We should be heading to bed. Tomorrow's an early day." he said, walking up to his room.
Blake wasn't finished with her meal. She looked down at it, forcing herself to eat. Despite not speaking the language, she could hear the whispers spread from the couple across the room and feel the weight of eyes on her. They held expressions not of fear or suspicion, but of pity, like she was a clueless sheep heading to the slaughter. She finished the final bite and ran up the stairs to her room.
She sat on her bed, flicking Ruby's knife in and out of its sheath, over and over again. She was scared, not for herself, but for Adam. The locals seemed to fear the house of Fall deeply, and he was heading to their estate.
Blake stood up, pulling her mind from her anxious thoughts. She walked out and knocked on Adam's door.
He opened the door after a short pause. Blake looked up at him, begging him not to go. "Blake, tell me you don't believe their superstitions." he said.
"Adam." she responded. "I've worked in journalism for years now. I've nev-"
"You're smarter than this, Blake. You know it's nothing but small minded superstition from people who live and think in the dirt. Now stop wasting my time."
Blake nodded and looked down. Adam smiled.
"I'm glad we reached an understanding."
Back in her room, Blake was brushing her hair, preparing for bed when she heard a knock on the door. Expecting Adam, she stood up and opened it, only to find the woman with the salt and pepper hair from earlier. She pulled off her necklace and offered it to her. Blake pushed her hand back and shook her head, but the woman was insistent. She said something in broken Belkan about silver eyes, pointing to the pendant. It looked like a skull, with two small holes for eyes. With a little bit of pantomiming and a lot of broken Belkan, Blake eventually understood that the necklace was given to the woman a long time ago by a warrior with silver eyes. She said it had protected her and would protect Blake as well.
Deciding she was too tired to deal with this, Blake humoured the lady, slipping the necklace over her neck. The woman smiled, clasping her hands together before leaving. Blake slipped the pendant under her shirt. Despite not believing that those with silver eyes were any more than just people (She knew Ruby after all), she felt a small sense of relief from wearing the pendant.
She settled down into bed and felt herself drift off to sleep.