RUNE FABLE: Escalation

Moving on

Whisper continues to twitch on Orville's livingroom floor.

"Wha'cha think we should do with him, Orie?" Tess asks with a mischievous expression.

Orville thinks for a moment. "Check him for additional corruption runes and weapons. Just be careful that you don't get anything that glows purple near your rune item. He wanted me to place one on mine. Apparently that's how his master corrupts you."

"You think that's what happened to Celestia and Bryson?" she asks wide-eyed.

"Has to be," he says with a nod.

After digging through the assassins pockets for several minutes, they produce three corruption runes, eleven daggers, six darts, two lengths of wire, a dozen or so smoke bombs, a fist full of caltrop, five packages of poisonous powder and dead lizard. Not sure how the lizard got in there.

"How do the corruption runes work, Whisper? Where did you get them?" Orville demands.

The Dark Assassin says nothing and stares at the ceiling.

"The man asked you a question, buddy," Tess whispers. She places a single finger on his shoulder. Electrical current runs through his body and he screams.

Orville motions for her to stop. "Not too much, Tess. He can't talk if he's little more than a vegetable."

She gives him a wink and gets down close to Whispers ear. She whispers something and his eyes bolt open.

"I'll... I'll talk. I'll talk!" he sputters.

Tess smiles up at Orville and is obviously very pleased with herself. Orville returns the smile. "What did you say to him?" he asks.

Tess gives a little shrug. "I just suggested where I'd touch him next with a little electrical jolt, and now he's suddenly feeling chatty!"

...

Titanika holds Blaise close as he continues to weep. "I'm sorry," she whispers tenderly.

His breathing eventually normalizes and the pair sit and watch the campfire slowly burn down.

"She wasn't happy," he mutters.

"What was that?"

"This whole thing. It's my fault."

"How do you figure?"

Blaise closes his eyes and places a hand on his forehead. "I knew she wasn't happy. She had been out of sorts for weeks. Maybe even months. And I did nothing about it."

Titanika watches as he shakes his head and covers his face. "Let's not forget that she's under some sort of spell right now. That woman looked like Celestia, but it wasn't her."

"I know that! But, don't you see? The reason she was so anxious to get her old powers back; the reason she put that ring on in the first place - it was because she was unhappy. Unhappy with her life. Unhappy with... me."

"You don't know that for sure," the brunette assures him.

"Yes, I do," he says with a nod. "In fact, if I'm being completely honest, I've been expecting her to break up with me for a while now. In a way, this whole thing is a relief. It's finally happened. It's finally over."

The brunette looks troubled. "If you knew she felt that way, why didn't you do something about it?"

"I wanted to. Believe me, I wanted to. But what was I suppose to do? No matter what I did, it never made a dent. It was never enough! I did nice things for her, I kissed her, I told her I loved her... was else was I suppose to do?"