A Court of Radiant Darkness

Four: Of Suriel and Fate (Part One)

Vash whistled as he exited the manor. He had changed into his leathers with his sheathed sword at his hip, as he made his way through the gardens. He weaved through the paths until he was at the edge of the property, closing in on the stables.

The masquerade letters were tucked safely into a travelling satchel that was strung along his shoulder. With them, he had packed only the essentials: A flask, some snacks, a spare dagger, a lot of rope, and a spare dark green siphon in case he required it.

For some odd reason, Vash always found himself with a siphon that mysteriously cracked when he was on a long journey, and since finding out about his predicament of being siphonless in potentially dangerous situations, Argos had insisted that he start carrying a secondary one just in case. His newest siphon was in form of a green crystal that sat along his neckline, hanging from a chain that Thalia had gifted him for the same reason.

In one hand, Vash carried his new golden embroidered cloak that he was less than happy to give away to a creature, and in the other, a fresh chicken carcass. Of all the errands he ran for Thalia, he suspected that this one could have dire consequences.

According to legend, capturing a Suriel and offering it a cape and food, preferably a chicken, was enough for the creature to be indebted to you. They would answer a question of your choice, and seemed to know details of Prythian before anyone else was aware of them.

Perhaps that's why they had all gone missing for centuries.

It was rare for a Suriel to be caught, and if Vash was being honest, he wasn't sure if any of them had survived through Hybern's war many moons ago. Or if Lord Andras allowed any of them to live in Spring Court anymore do to an answered question that was not to his liking.

That was the last Suriel to resurface since. Andras was hellbent on making sure of that fact. Vash on the other hand, had refused to take part in hunting the Suriels, much to Andras' fevered disproval. Vash just hoped that his past choice was enough to make up for one stroke of luck.

There was only a few Suriel back then to begin with, and Vash wasn't up to date with his mythology of ancient creatures to say if or how they reproduced.

But rumours always swirled, and he couldn't afford to let his High Lady down. Not after everything she had done for him and his family.

He made his way to the stables, where one of the stable workers had readied a horse for him.

"Hey, girl. How's my Sunflower doing?" He cooed as he patted the horse. Sunflower, fondly named by his High Lady when she was a child, perked her ears forward in response, happy to see Vash make his appearance.

The spotted horse was one of Vash's favourites, mostly for sentimental reasons, but Sunflower was a fast horse. She followed his instructions too, which made him even luckier to have her as his horse, as rarely anyone listened to him.

"We've got a job to do today. Think we can handle it?" Vash asked with a smile, throwing the spare cloak onto her back, and quickly securing the rest of his gear. The Appaloosa horse gently waved her dark tail in response, "I thought so too."

"Are you not bringing anyone with you, Vash?" One of the Handlers, Kelda, asked with a smile when they had walked in on his prep. It didn't strike them as odd to see Vash out galivanting, but usually, he brought along the Spymaster or he was out with Lady Thalia in tow.

Their headband hid most of their brown hair, save for the one curl that escaped it and curled around their forehead, which Vash took great pleasure in flicking over and over again until Kelda swatted at his hand. Kelda set the bucket that they were carrying down outside the stall, swinging their arms over the gate as they watched Vash continue on.