Re: Faylin (Farren)
Geero appears to be a sound sleeper. Faylin's gentle shakes hardly stir him, and when she increased her efforts, Geero's adorably vulnerable sleeping face contorted in confusion and he began to mumble through the haze of some dream he was having.
"N-no... I swear she didn't do it. It was me. Oi... oi... PRICK!" Geero suddenly opened his eyes and shouted himself awake, much to the surprise of both Abby and Faylin, though the female slaver seemed to quickly recognize the problem.
"Hush, now," she said soothingly and walked over to him to stroke and massage his neck. Geero was staring around and about him, his eyes wide and uncomprehending, as if his surroundings were not as he expected them to be.
"It was just a dream love... just a dream," she patted him and cooed tenderly.
"A... a dream?" Geero said shakingly, "I suppose it was, and yet it seemed so real. No, not a dream I think. I see it clearer now. A memory. Hidden deep and unbidden. Out of the city."
"Hush, love. You're with your Abby. And Fay too, let's not scare our poor Fay. There is much in front of her, in front of us. Let's not waste time looking over our shoulders to the past. The present is busy enough."
Nodding numbly, Geero glanced at Fay. "Sorry if I startled you." Then he noticed the wetness at his lips and rubbed the corner of his mouth with his forearm. "And sorry again if I drooled on you," he said, a bit sheepishly.
The three companions returned to the front room and Abby and Fay got dressed again in their outfits, which had mended and reformed themselves into their original shape, just as Abby had said they would.
Geero peered out the front door and looked both ways. Affirming that the street outside was clear, he motioned for them both to follow, and so the three set off again. Geero in front with Abby and Fay walking side by side a few paces behind him.
Their journey took about 15 minutes, and Fay judged by the position of the moon above them that they were heading northeast. The golden rays of dawn were threatening to rise and blanket the lightening blue of the sky with a cheery yellow when at last they came to a large iron gate that barred across a steep staircase leading to a double doorway - the entrance to what seemed like an old arena.
"The Spiral used to be part of the old city's gladiator ring, where prisoners of war and fighting slaves were kept for the entertainment of the upper class," Abby explained as Geero unlatched the gate. "Now it is used for an equally fiendish purpose, but it serves different masters, and who is to say which ones are worse?"
Geero closed the gate behind them and as they were halfway down the stairs the double doors opened and two heavily armed men with shaved heads and spiral tattoos pointed wicked and crude spears at them.
"A slave for the Unders?" one of them asked when he recognized Geero and Abby.
"Possibly," said Abby, "This one's to walk the Spiral." And she indicated Fay with a raise of the chain that connected to the mage's choker.
The guards both looked at each other and grinned. "Is she now? And who shall I say is her sponsor?" asked the same guard as before, looking with lascivious eyes at Abby.
The female slaver turned to Fay and looked from her to Geero. "I'll leave the choice to you Faylin. Only one of us can be your sponsor and fight with you through the trials of the Spiral. The sponsor vouches for you and shares your fate if you should fail. If you win through, you'll be given the sigil and be safe to walk the city at night. If you fail, you'll be deemed a slave of the Spiral, and things will go poorer for us. Which of us do you want to be with you?"
