Chatterbox: Inkwell

I am the Mapmaker

Part 1: A Necromancer From Years Ago

The Mapmaker~

I stand against the wall, holding my fountain pen out in front of me.  It’s shaking in my hands.  Eris stands in front of me, grinning way too widely to be human.  Her eyes look so different from my friend’s.  The dark brown seems black, and the gold flecks in them glitter mercilessly.

“S-stay back!” I say, trying to sound confident despite the obvious stutter and shake in my voice.  “I don’t want to hurt you!”

She cackles, so different from the girl I used to know.  “You don’t want to hurt me?  Look at you, with your weapon pointed at me!  And you thought I was hypocritical!”

“I’m sorry!” I cry.  “Even if this isn’t my fault, you shouldn’t hurt me for this!”  I stand a little taller.  “If I were your friend, you wouldn’t be doing this!”  I desperately try to convince her as she approaches ominously.

“You’re not my friend.  The last time you were, you left me behind,” She glances away for a minute, then looks right back.  “But look on the bright side!  At least your ‘friend’ is the last person you’ll ever see!”

"If you don't consider you my friend, I won’t either!”  I yell, jumping at her as my pen morphs into a dagger.  Eris jumps back, her eyes widening at my bravery.  She turns her head, the blade scratching her face.  That’s gonna leave a scar.

“Why you little --” She growls in frustration.  “You never had the guts to do that to me before!”

“That’s because you were my friend before!” I shoot back, wrapping my hand around her wrist.  I fling her around into the wall, leaving her motionless.  “I’m so sorry,” I say, walking away.  “...Friend.”

Lou is yelling for Alana to get over there, Aya and Jessy are practicing in the clearing, and an arrow from Two of Diamonds almost chopped off my ear.  I need some alone time.

I make my way to the cave door, dodging Maria and Jakob leaving Maria’s tent and Alana, running to Lou’s aid.  I brush the vines aside and leave the cave.  I stretch out my wings and take flight.  It’s been a long time since I’ve gone out, especially to fly.  My wings are sore.

I fly to the abandoned castle, and am surprised to find that there’s a person near the entrance, nearly unconscious.  I land near her, and walk up to the wall where she sits.  Her eyes are wide in an expression of surprise.  I can’t carry anyone of her stature, especially a human.  I’ll go back and find a group willing to chase me through the forest.

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I knock on the wall, then brush aside the vines.  Jessy almost immediately grabs my shoulders and cries, “There’s a necromancer nearby!  Lou’s tracker says it’s by the castle!”

"Really?" I ask.

“Well they shouldn’t be active for a while.”

Jessy removes her hands from my shoulders.  “How so?”

“I found them almost unconscious near the entrance of the castle.  Just report them.  Artemis loves kidnapping people, necromancers or not.”

“Artemis won’t do anything!”  Jessy wails.  “He went to Timepiece, remember?”

“Right,” I cringe.  “Guess we’ll get her ourselves.  Who wants to go to the castle with me?”  I ask.  No one replies.

Jessy giggles.  “I think you should go on the big flat stalagmite first.”

I sigh, and walk to the stalagmite.  I climb it and say, “Who wants to go to the castle with me?”

The Mapmaker~

I never though I would hurt Eris.  And I never thought there would be no choice.

I walk into the forest, hoping there is no one to ask me why I am here.  I obviously couldn’t tell anyone I had just fought a necromancer.  It is illegal, and they would probably yell at me for not turning Erin in.  But how could I?  It was the first time I had seen her in at least four years.  Granted, someone had been controlling her (she would never act like that), but, nonetheless, I was still excited.  Well, at first, I was.

I stop, and twist behind a tree as I see a dark-skinned boy of about fifteen years of age with green eyes and pixie wings.  My breathing shallows as I hope he doesn’t spot me.  I hear voices, and put the hood of my cloak on.  He’s with someone.  I hold my breath to see if I can hear some of their conversation.

“Did you see someone?” is the first thing I hear.  Oh no.  They’ve spotted me.

“I didn’t.  You’re just seeing things.”  A second voice adds.  I breathe a sigh of relief.  

“Shut up!” The first voice says, squealing as if someone was doing something to them.  I stifle a laugh.

"Don't tell me you didn't hear that, though.  Someone was laughing!” the same person says.  I stop, and start to worry again.  I make no more noise.  My other senses amplify as I wait.  A twig snaps.  I jump, and resist looking around the tree to see who did it.

“Darren, what did you do!  That person is going to hear!” the first voice says angrily.

“Can it, ex-necromancer.  There probably isn’t even anyone there,” a third voice adds.  Four people, including the three voices I heard earlier, come around the tree, and continue forward.  A person (gender unclear) turns out of curiosity, and sees me.

“Who are you?” they ask a little too loudly.  

The pixie-boy turns, and says, “Mitchell, who are you talking to?”  I look at Mitchell, and take in their appearance for a second.  An indigo eye stares back at me, the other covered by a lock of royal blue hair.

Before Mitchell can answer, the pixie boy and the other two people come over.  “Who are you?” a girl with frizzy black hair in an afro and dark skin asks.

I’m a little curious to hear what the other name she was going to say was.

“Were you the person Aya kept thinking she was imagining?” Ellis asks, brushing a strand of pixie cut hair behind her ear.  “Were you listening to our conversation?”

“Well, I guess you could call me the eavesdropper.  And, Aya, whichever one of you you are, you were correct.” she replies, looking up and smiling slightly.

“I’m Aya,” Aya says, raising her hand.ground, as if it was a  mistake for her to be there.  “Well?” Aya asks, irritated.  She puts her hands on her hips and leans forward slightly.  She says she does it because it makes her look scary.  But that shouldn’t be her first instinct.

“I’m, uh,” she girl starts.  “Xe -- just call me the Mapmaker,” she decides.

I’m a little curious to hear what the other name she was going to say was.

“Were you the person Aya kept thinking she was imagining?” Ellis asks, brushing a strand of pixie cut hair behind her ear.  “Were you listening to our conversation?”

“Well, I guess you could call me the eavesdropper.  And, Aya, whichever one of you you are, you were correct.” she replies, looking up and smiling slightly.

“I’m Aya,” Aya says, raising her hand.

"I should've figured," the Mapmaker says.

Ignoring her comment, I ask, “Have you seen a necromancer anywhere?”

She glances to her left, then back at us.  “No, why?” She asks.  

“She’s lying,” Ellis says, staring at the Mapmaker with the intense focus she has when she’s thinking.  “Her tone of voice sounds like she’s unsure, like she’s asking a question rather than telling a statement.”

The Mapmaker sighs, her shoulders drooping slightly.  “Eris is over there,” she says, pointing toward the castle.  “I had to fight her and accidentally rendered her unconscious.”

“How do you accidentally knock someone unconscious?” I ask.

“You meet them after not seeing them for four years, find out that they’re a bad guy, try to turn them back into your friend, and when they refuse, you attack with no intention of actually hurting them, but accidentally do it anyway because your anger is so great,” she says flatly before walking away.

~~~~~

Sorry it's so long, I had a lot to copy-paste.