Being Alone: A Snippet of Skylar Pratt's Life

Alone

As Skylar Pratt woke up from his uninterrupted sleep on the Queensdale plains, the sounds of birds and the rustling of animals around him became all too clear. Yet, there was something about last nights slumber that was different than most days. Companionship, closeness to a specific individual and that sense of security that one feels. It was an entirely new feeling, one that Skylar indulged in greatly the past few hours. Yet...for some reason, he felt it missing. Instead of the peace, his thoughts began lingering upon other things. The sounds, the movements...none of it should matter to him. "Fuck..." the noble groaned, finally opening his eyes and turned to see the one who had given him such a shift in mind and body. Yet, what he saw was...nothing. There was no warm body there, no woman who had just been there a few hours prior. All that was left was the wrinkling of the blanket that they used and some smothered grass from where she slept. Werdna was gone.

 

Many possibilities erupted in his head, mostly relating to his family. Had they discovered that Werdna was more than just his bodyguard? Had they targeted her? Horrible visions and possibilities ate at his brain as Skylar stood up and quickly got dressed. His first priority was to find out what had happened to the woman. Had she been kidnapped? Killed? The second was all connected to the first which was, where had she gone? The man spent hours upon hours checking the areas around where they were, trying to find any hint of a struggle, tracks and blood. Yet, there was nothing. Even though she hated to admit it, he knew Werdna better than most. The only way to not find Werdna's skinny ass, was if she didn't want to be found at all. He thought about in the past when trying to spy on Werdna and Raigar, how difficult it was...nearly impossible if he did not know what to look for. She was as silent as a ghost during an Ascalonian night. If there were no tracks, then it wasn't a kidnapping at all. His family would proudly yell about kidnapping something close to him, they were proud of their underhanded schemes and wouldn't do so quietly. Common bandits and thugs well, they would have left some sort of note looking for coin.

So with all those possibilities crossed out and no sign of blood anywhere, she really did leave him...alone. Once back at his manor, Skylar used every possible connection he had to try and find her. Everyday he hoped to see her back through the front door...probably chastising him for even worrying about her. Yet, every day that passed was the same as the last. No one would come through that door to deliver any sort of good news. Due to the now lack of bodyguard and his refusal to hire a new one, several assassination attempts were acted upon. Poison, surprise dagger trap...a sudden influx in rats carrying varying forms of diseases. At some point, Skylar simply forgot how to sleep as he tried to both deal with these attacks and attempting to avoid any other.

Several weeks had passed, almost approaching a month and Skylar's eyes had sunken in due to his lack of sleep. The man was now skinny, almost frail looking as he puffed out some smoke from his now fourth joint in the day. Even his black hair was almost lifeless now, strands sticking from everywhere. His one good eye would always stare upon a quiver of arrows...the one thing Werdna had left him. No letters, no goodbye...just a quiver. Though deep down the man knew, the goodbye had been the day before...the time spent, the love made. The erotic ecstasy and the peaceful slumber. That was the goodbye. Yet, he could not accept that, he refused to. With a guttural growl he would toss the joint towards the small pile of garbage before drinking from his flask. In order to get through the pain, to even get through the day, the man had to mostly get drunk to even function. It was due to this that he barely caught on to someone talking to him.

 

"Not quiet so loud...your voice is howling in my ear." Skylar grumbled while finally drawing his attention to the servant speaking.

 

"Ah...yes sir. Your crew has reported that several sky pirates have opened up Cantha and..."

Skylar immediately stood up, legs shaking a bit while drink still in hand. "Did you say...sky pirates? Aetherblades?" he asked while shaking his canteen wildly.

"Y-Yes sir. Aetherblades. They are mostly...uhm...well, they will be departing soon."

Skylar was stunned, but would shake his head as he smiled bitterly, "Of course...the aetherblades..." he then looked at the servant, "Take care of things while I am gone...have a nice trip to clear this crazy head of mine." He laughed, one without any sort of happiness whatsoever. "Just don't burn the place down. Oh, and if she returns, have her wait for me." To which the servant nodded and quickly left since he fully believed that Skylar was incredibly mad in love. Anything he said would have been useless.

Skylar quickly packed his weapons, several joints and lots of alcohol. Just like the previously leads, he knew full well this one could easily end in a disaster. Even as a former aetherblade herself, was Werdna fully committed to the cause? Did she really rejoin them? He sighed before sitting down at his desk and writing a quick letter to Werdna in case she somehow managed to get back before he arrived.

 

Hey Dumb Dumb

Next time you pull something like this again, I will deduct it from your pay. We almost got blown up cause of you! If you are my any miracle reading this right now, then sit your skinny ass there and wait for me. And no buts! You can curse me all you want while waiting. I am going to kick your ass for this, mark my words. I don't need a quiver, I need you. Remember that next time...

He hadn't mean to be so blunt, but his emotions were getting the better of him as his hand shook a little. The drink was the only thing keeping his head focus on one thing. Granted his emotions were now all over the place but, at least it wouldn't come up until later. Then, he slowly added.

Miss you Werdna, please come back safe.

I...love you.

And with that, he would place the message on the desk under some book of poisons that she liked before leaving the manor in darkness once more. He was focused, determined yet incurably...broken.